Disney is already looking ahead to 2022 as this year’s upfront sales season wraps up. The media giant got an early start this year with its first presentation in February that included the rollout of a programmatic platform called Disney Real-Time Ad Exchange (DRAX).
“We felt it was important to start the conversations early, both with clients and our agency partners,” Lisa Valentino, executive vice president of client solutions and addressable enablement at Disney Advertising, said in this interview with Beet.TV. “It started with a tech showcase where we really dug in, in terms of the solutions and capabilities of the Disney platform. We want clients and agencies to be leveraging the data, automation and measurement capabilities of Disney.”
Disney followed its technology showcase a month later with a focus on its programming in development for its brands including ABC, Hulu and ESPN. The idea was to showcase how Disney was pushing ahead despite the challenges of the pandemic.
“While productions were disrupted during Covid, the writing rooms were not,” Valentino said.
Its upfront sales presentations culminated in a virtual presentation in May that highlighted the stars of its shows, along with its technology.
“It was the most star-studded event we’ve ever done. We had more talent participate in the show than ever before,” Valentino said.
As a result of these efforts, more than 40% of its total ad commitments in this year’s upfront went toward digital and streaming, the company announced.
And Disney Ad Sales isn’t sitting still as it looks ahead to next year.
“We kicked off our first meeting of upfront 2022,” Valentino said. “It’s about a 52-week strategy dialog with customers that allows them to always be accessing Disney to drive their business.”
