DISNEY JOINS NIELSEN’S ADDRESSABLE TV BETA PROGRAM

Last week, Nielsen announced that Disney Media Networks is the latest U.S. programmer to join the company’s Addressable TV beta program. Disney’s participation will automatically give it the ability to evaluate and experience Nielsen’s TV advertising capabilities and technology to appropriately prepare for its commercial launch. The move serves as Disney’s approach to becoming “Addressable First” and offering advertisers innovative ad methods to measure audience level. In addition to Disney, the nine participating programmers in the beta program represent 75% of linear TV impressions in the U.S. “At Disney, we are focused on delivering innovative ad solutions that bring our loyal audiences closer to the brands they love,” said Laura Nelson, Senior Vice President, Cross Portfolio Solutions, Disney Advertising Sales. “We are excited to be part of Nielsen’s Addressable TV beta program and we are optimistic that their technology and advanced addressable capabilities will serve our unique needs and that of our advertisers." 

Disney is the leader in advanced advertising space with Luminate, which has advanced advertising capabilities, including attribution, data-driven linear, and expansive data targeting. By joining forces with the beta program, Disney is reinforcing its commitment to adding creativity and innovation to its advertising and focusing on the increase of value and flexibility for advertisers. Nielsen’s Addressable TV Advertising solution can be useful for programmers as it gives them the ability to offer flexible addressable campaigns across their premium video inventory, as well as advanced inventory and yield management capabilities to for programmers to have full control over how, when and where they handle addressable TV advertising across their linear TV networks.

Insights from the beta program will help Disney understand how the Nielsen technology integrates into their existing advertising ecosystem and how it can be leveraged across  Disney’s unique set of programming options. In addition, Disney will experience the technology in action as it seamlessly inserts and replaces ads on linear TV channels within milliseconds, maintaining a crisp user experience that does not impact video quality, channel change behavior, or audio volume.  “Over the past several years, we have taken steps to enable our commercial inventory in an addressable first way and this is just the latest example," Nelson said.

The solution works by users toggling on the linear campaign ad spot on or off for addressable ads based upon how the linear campaign is pacing against its KPIs, helping the automation of yield optimization across linear and addressable and ensures the ability to maximize yield.  “We are thrilled to have Disney join our beta program as they double-down on new technology that adds flexibility to their ‘Addressable First’ strategy,” said Kelly Abcarian, General Manager, Advanced Video Advertising, Nielsen. “As the media industry evolves, it’s crucial that TV programmers have control and flexibility over how to best monetize their inventory. We look forward to working with Disney to scale the value of addressability as they blend the magic and creativity of their content with advanced audience delivery capabilities to deliver on the flexibility and value their advertisers are expecting.”