As media buyers and advertisers gather in France at Cannes Lions, Disney and Amazon are unveiling a new pact aimed at improving ad targeting for streaming television.
The deal, between Disney’s Real-Time Ad Exchange (aka DRAX, yes, also the name of a Marvel character) and Amazon’s Delivery Service Partner logistics unit, is aimed at allowing a greater array of advertisers to have access to the content inventory across Disney’s platforms. As in, it’ll allow media buyers using Amazon’s DSP to have better tools to target consumers on ad-tier programming across Disney+ (126 million subscribers), Hulu (54 million subs) and ESPN+ (24 million subs).
The companies used an example of a pet food supplier who could now target consumers that have both an interest in buying pet food on Amazon and who also watch Disney shows. The integration is expected to launch in the third quarter of this year.
Both Amazon and Disney have spent the past year looking to turbocharge their ad businesses. The ecommerce giant has been migrating its Prime Video subscribers to its cheaper, ad-laden tier while Disney has hiked prices across its suite of subscription platforms. The company is also planning a major launch of its flagship ESPN app as a standalone streamer later this year as well.
“By building a direct path connecting Amazon’s commerce insights to the full scale of Disney’s streaming ecosystem, we’re enabling greater accessibility to inventory and audience signals that translate into meaningful results for advertisers leveraging Amazon DSP,” said Matt Barnes, vp of programmatic sales, Disney Advertising. “Disney has been on a decades-long journey to unlock data and insights that reflect how our audiences watch and engage with our content. That knowledge has helped us move the needle for our clients and deliver better results–and this integration raises the bar for the wider industry.”
Added Kelly MacLean, vp of Amazon DSP at Amazon Ads, “By connecting Disney’s premium content with Amazon’s deep consumer understanding, we’re creating advertising that works better for everyone— brands reach the right audiences, publishers maximize their inventory value, and viewers see more relevant ads.”
The companies noted that Disney+ content inventory will be made available to Amazon DSP clients abroad, including in France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey and the U.K.
