NEWS: Disney+ In Talks To Make BIG CHANGES in 2024

The changes just seem to keep coming with Disney+!

©Disney

Disney+ has recently started merging Hulu content into its streaming library as a more seamless experience for its consumers and just opened up a slew of discounts and perk offerings available exclusively to Disney+ customers. Now, more change could be on the horizon for Disney+ and how advertisers are looking to target Disney+ content consumers.

Disney is rumored to be adding shopping and gaming experiences on Disney+. This interest would allow advertisers to get involved in Disney+ content marketing to consumers with the streaming service. Rita Ferro, president of Disney Advertising Sales, said “The world of advertising experiences on AVOD is an important place to be involved in.” In an interview with Variety, she linked that a new presentation Disney has poised for review in Las Vegas on January 10th, 2024 would reveal “what the next level of ad innovations will be” from the company.

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This presentation is scheduled to be held during the annual CES conference, while the competition for streaming ad dollars intensifies. One of the leading online retailers, Amazon, is also rumored to propose a new ad-supported tier to its Prime Video content and subsequent subscribers in early 2024. Recently, Amazon unveiled a 3-year agreement with Interpublic Group that would allow clients of its media-buying agencies to allocate marketing dollars to the new advertising platform. Other streaming services like Netflix plan to roll out new offers that include QR codes and sponsorships tied to a specific title, a thematic moment, and live streams.

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Since the launch of Disney’s updated ad-supported version of Disney+ last year, Ferro reports Disney’s client base has expanded quickly, from 100 initial ad sponsors in the U.S. to more than 1,000 worldwide. Ferro also noted that Disney+ has seen a 35% increase in time spent on the service since ad inclusion with Disney content, and states that around 50% of new subscribers to Disney+ chose to subscribe to the ad-supported version.

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In the future, we may see media companies pressing to prove they can deliver viewer impressions big advertiser clients are demanding, and show that subscribers are staying around for length amounts of time rather than just skipping through title selections. The merge of Disney+ and Hulu that recently rocketed into play is expected “to really drive engagement even further,” says Ferro.

‘The Falcon and the Winter Soldier’ streaming on Disney+ ©Marvel

This is just the start though. The company has aimed growth for opportunities to draw in new advertisers. At its launch, commercials on the Disney+ streaming platform were required to be 30 seconds in length, with pitches running at only 15 to 90 seconds in length. Seasonal-themed packages to sponsor are also curated packages that Disney has begun to experiment with. Most recently one connecting winter holiday content sold out after only one month in the market. Ferro says advertisers have far expanded the access to “programmatic biddable inventory” that’s now available across 30 different demand-side platforms lending opportunity to both national and local-market advertisers.

This could mean that advertisements you’ve become familiar with seeing on Hulu may be seen on Disney+ shortly with several new advertisement offerings. There is potential for Disney to open up ad purchases from smaller advertisers and interactive ad formats which allow consumers the opportunity to opt in for coupons or electronic communications from these companies and even choose different versions of commercials to be shown to them.

For now, it seems that we will need to wait to see what the true proposal is from Disney to potential new and existing advertisers and what opportunities they intend to open up. We probably won’t know how to expect this to affect consumers until we know a more set course for what they’re looking to achieve. Be sure to stay tuned with us at AllEars.net for the latest in Disney news and updates.