Disney

Big TV’s shift to programmatic brings in the performance brands; Meta rolls out premium subscriptions for Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp; and Yahoo enters the crowded AI search market.

If there’s one thing Disney knows how to do well, it’s brand-building. Now, the massive media conglomerate is developing new tools specifically designed to help its advertising clients do the same.

If any single event can be considered the jumping-off point for TV upfronts, it’s the Consumer Electronics Showcase (CES), which kicks off this week in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Let’s close out the year with a roundup of the most impactful CTV stories of the year, from Netflix’s ad surge to Nielsen’s measurement missteps.

Google’s AI browser opens relevant tabs for you; Disney-owned characters are now featured on Sora; and Google’s AI Max for Search gets lackluster feedback.

The metaverse hype is over; Apple Maps forays into advertising; and streamers vie for HBO Max and the WBD studio archive.

CTV spending is flattening, performance is plateauing and buyers are hesitant to push budgets further. The reason is not complicated. When buyers cannot see what they are buying, they cannot commit their spend with conviction.

Is it just me, or do third-quarter earnings always seem especially strange?

We break down some of the most interesting financial trends coming out of Q3 earnings reports, and what rises to the level of being worth covering in the first place.

Disney’s Q4 earnings double down on the success of sports streaming content, but the YouTube TV blackout continues.

Our industry has done a terrible job rewarding publishers for monetization choices that align their supply to quality and outcomes vs. short-term yield bumps. But is it overly optimistic to think The Trade Desk’s recent moves prove that’s changing?

The desire for a data-driven reinvention of OOH inspired OUTFRONT to create agentic AI tools for executing and measuring OOH campaigns and comparing OOH to other channels.

Ask advertisers, not Meta, how best to use Meta’s ad platform; holdcos and big brands are pressuring Big Tech to self-regulate; and how data-driven animal husbandry is impacting marketing.

If you didn’t happen to watch the main stage of AdExchanger’s Programmatic IO New York this week, then you missed a great (albeit way too brief) conversation about CTV’s programmatic progress.

AI-enabled advertising could reduce ad loads on pages; Jimmy Kimmel is (still) causing a stir; and Microsoft is building an AI marketplace to ensure fair compensation for publishers.

YouTube backpedals on banning COVID and political misinfo; Tylenol pushes back against Trump’s claims that it causes autism; and Disney doubles down on linear TV and raises Disney+ prices after its Kimmel boycott threat.

Kimmel’s back, baybee; would ads make Wikipedia better, actually?; and Amazon gets accused of dark patterns.

Jimmy Kimmel Live has been suspended due to comments on Charlie Kirk; Samsung is bringing ads to your fridge; and TTD eliminates the Programmatic Table.

Keeping American kids safe in what FTC Commissioner Mark Meador calls “an increasingly complex and fast-paced technological environment” is a top priority for the agency.

SSPs aren’t thrilled by TTD characterizing them as “resellers”; Amazon DSP just announced a new partnership to sell Netflix inventory; and pharma brands will be subject to stricter regulations, per the FDA.

Brands don’t feel secure enough to lock in huge CTV deals outside of live sports. So what happens to all of that nonsports content spread out across streaming channels?

Ever open the Disney+ app and experience cognitive dissonance when shows like “The Handmaid’s Tale” and “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” appear in the recommendations? Well, expect more of that in the future.

SaaS companies are abandoning interoperability in search of more revenue; Spotify’s ad business is growing slower than expected; and sports is an upfronts winner for Disney and NBCU.

Netflix cracks Nielsen’s top 3 channels, but YouTube is still tops; CTV is maturing as a marketing channel, but it comes with zits; and Google rolls out another core update for search.

CTV advertisers have carried over one-to-one programmatic logic from display and online video into a channel that behaves nothing like them. We need to stop chasing CTV impressions and start chasing impact.

The Amazon DSP vs. The Trade Desk rumor mill; How SharkNinja has stayed sharp; Why nothing beats organic.

AI-generated mystery pages are appearing on brand sites; Amazon Prime Video doubles its ad load; and bipartisan efforts to protect kids online get a new partisan focus under the Trump admin.

Amazon Prime Video rolls out new audience and contextual targeting; streamers wring more revenue from subscription-weary consumers; and AI is an app, so it must obey Google and Apple.

Amid the glitz of TV upfront presentations, advertising executives take the stage to talk about things like new audience targeting capabilities or to ballyhoo new ad measurement partnerships. How, though, are we supposed to focus on brand lift statistics when we can all hear Lady Gaga belting a vocal warmup offstage?

Like a pumpkin turning into an elaborate stagecoach, Disney’s programmatic ad sales have grown rapidly in recent months.