Live Sports and Entertainment have always been core to Disney’s streaming offerings. As the marketplace demand for Live has accelerated, so has Disney’s platform. We are expanding our technology to meet advertiser demand to align with these exciting and unpredictable moments. Now more than ever, Live content is a core pillar of our future-forward streaming strategy.
In the past few weeks alone, Disney has rolled out two new biddable ad tech advancements to help propel this initiative forward. This includes expanding live inventory into biddable marketplaces through Disney’s proprietary Ad Server and our support of Instant Deals within Google’s demand-side platform, Display & Video 360, in the U.S.
“This is a significant advancement in our ad technology,” said Amy Lehman, SVP of Ad Platforms. “Disney is not only making valuable live ad inventory available to advertisers, but also enabling automated workflows to simplify access for buyers.”
Let’s take a closer look.
New Biddable Ad Technology Integrations
Live content from Hulu and Disney+, which now includes access to ESPN and ABC News content for eligible subscribers, is now available to advertisers programmatically through biddable integrations. The launch follows the rollout of Disney’s LIVE Sports & Entertainment certification, with Google’s DV360, The Trade Desk, Yahoo DSP, and Magnite among certified platforms that, as Jamie Power (SVP of Addressable Sales) noted, “can confidently leverage spikes in viewership and scale during pivotal live moments.”
Additionally, Disney is supporting Google’s Display & Video 360 Instant Deals feature through the Disney Real-Time Ad Exchange (DRAX), allowing buyers to quickly create deals within the Display & Video 360 marketplace. This automated process lets buyers choose Disney ad inventory, apply targeting, and activate deals instantly. Since Display & Video 360 was already integrated with Disney’s marketplace via DRAX Direct, this partnership strengthens efforts to provide advertisers with efficient ways to grow their business.
“Our goal hasn’t changed — and that’s to make it as easy and flexible for our clients to buy Disney, across all platforms and marketplaces,” said Power. “By expanding our support for a range of deal types, and expanding biddable capabilities across live sports, streaming and entertainment, we’re laying the foundation for powering biddable automation and outcomes at scale.”
Disney’s Ad Technology Leadership
These are just the latest steps we’ve taken in streaming and ad tech leadership. For years, Disney’s proprietary ad tech stack has actively supported addressable advertising in live programming, which now also enables dynamic ad insertion (DAI) for live events on Disney+ — a game-changing enhancement for live sports content and advertisers. By enabling Live DAI across Disney+, which was already available on Hulu, Disney is driving scaled personalization further — ensuring live viewers see more relevant ads. In the rapidly expanding world of live streaming, this enables more personalized ad experiences at scale, minimizes disruption to the viewing experience, and delivers value to advertisers.
“Disney has a leadership position in live streaming thanks to extensive technological expertise, decades of operational experience, and sophisticated global infrastructure,” said Lehman. “Combining that with our leadership in ad technology by building a suite of products that enable personalization and interoperability allows us to meet the demands of the market to drive greater impact.”