It could also be Halloween, but Disney Advertising has nothing to be afraid of: The media giant’s promoting arm reports it is ready to surpass its total ad sales for holiday 2023, with this 12 months’s Disney+ holiday package pacing over 15% ahead.
To construct on those gains, Disney Advertising today (Oct. 31) announced a geographic expansion for its holiday sponsorships on Disney+, taking them beyond North America to make them available across EMEA and Latin America for the primary time. The news demonstrates the way it continues to expand its streaming offering for advertisers in top categories including financial services, CPG, retail and apparel and healthcare across the globe. In Europe, Disney has provided cross-territory sponsorships for brands including Chloé, Uber Eats and L’Oréal Paris, with more to come.
“There are so many brands now which might be inbound coming to us, saying, ‘Help us through enthusiastic about our global strategy,’” said John Campbell, senior vp of entertainment and streaming solutions for Disney Advertising. “The US is basically helping our regional partners determine how all of us do that together, and for the brands who really mean it, those who really need global access to our audiences, we’ve got solutions for them.”
Billions of hours — and dollars
The investment from ad partners like The Hershey Company and Reckitt-owned Mucinex follows the investment in time from an audience that consumed greater than 10 billion hours of Disney’s entertainment content in the important thing October-November-December period last 12 months, per Nielsen data shared by Disney.
Those billions of hours come as consumers prepare to spend extra money on shopping than last 12 months through the holiday season to the tune of the over $980 billion forecast by The National Retail Federation. Nearly nine in 10 Disney viewers plan to spend the identical or more on shopping this 12 months and have a positive opinion of holiday ads, while greater than half draw ideas from holiday ads, per Disney survey data.
“We’re really looking to be utilitarian for our consumers, and that is just not through the holiday season when there’s peak buying, because persons are buying each day,” Campbell said. “We really need to rejoice each day and create holidays each day at Disney and have it feel celebratory, have social resonance and positivity show up like that.”
“We’re in peak buying season right away… We’re seeing brands are available in each day for our holiday offerings.”
John Campbell
SVP for entertainment and streaming solutions, Disney Advertising
Marketers increasingly are teaming with Disney for full campaigns inclusive of sponsorship, co-branded slates, custom content and social media, in addition to shoppable and commerce experiences, to drive each brand and buy metrics.
“We’re in peak buying season right away,” Campbell said. “We’re seeing brands are available in each day for our holiday offerings.”
Hershey last 12 months returned to Disney for a sponsorship around Halloween and saw two-times return on investment, helping to drive the corporate’s first billion-dollar Halloween season. In its first 12 months as a Halloween sponsor, Mucinex this 12 months became the first-ever brand to create cross-channel custom integrations across each Hulu’s Huluween and Freeform’s 31 Nights of Halloween content.
The gift of sports
Disney isn’t only a destination for entertainment across platforms like Disney+ but a significant player in sports media, controlling a 3rd of sports impressions from November 2023 to January 2024 — greater than some other broadcaster, per Nielsen data shared by Disney.
The holiday season overlaps with key college football games, from Rivalry Week through to the expanded College Football Playoff, giving brands in retail, tech and CPG a chance to engage locked-in audiences around Thanksgiving, Black Friday and beyond.
“Our sports lineup this holiday season is designed to position brands at the middle of fan excitement,” said Danielle Brown, senior vp of sports brand solutions at Disney Advertising, in a press release. “We’re creating opportunities for brands to meet fans right where they’re to rejoice the most important moments of the season.”
Disney this 12 months will incorporate shoppable QR code integrations across select rivalry match ups on ABC and ESPN, giving marketers one other way to connect content to commerce because the two spaces proceed to converge. Additionally, viewers of Huludays on Hulu will give you the chance to “Shop the Scene” via a QR code powered by BrightLine and sponsored by Kroger.
“We’re creating opportunities for brands to meet fans right where they’re to rejoice the most important moments of the season.”
Danielle Brown
SVP of sports brand solutions, Disney Advertising
Meanwhile, the convergence of entertainment and sports has already been a boon for Disney. The company’s combined streaming business posted an operating profit of $47 million in Q3 compared with a lack of $512 million in the identical quarter last 12 months — becoming profitable 1 / 4 sooner than expected. Disney’s domestic streaming advertisers grew by greater than 20% 12 months over 12 months, while programmatic revenue growth increased by over 80%, per details shared across the earnings.
The results are, partly, a testament to Disney’s work to reveal the outcomes of its ad offerings.
“I feel we have done a superb job with our research and proving out to our client partners that getting attached to a few of these major tentpole events and being within the conversation goes to drive your bottom line,” Campbell said.
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