Disney+’s growing ad plan turns 1

Consumers flock to Disney+’s ad plan in its first year as advertisers’ campaigns soar

By Chris Brooklier

• The first year of Disney+ launching its ad plan has been marked by growing subscribers, opening up ad space for brands, and cutting down on operating losses.
• Disney gave agencies like Goodway Group more flexibility with upfront buys to allow its clients more control over how spend is activated.

💡 Lightbulb moment

Disney reports that half of all new users choose a plan with ads. Meanwhile, the percentage of new users signing up for an ad plan on Disney+ was twice as high as those signing up for Max and Netflix, according to analytics firm Antenna.

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The anti-moonshot: Why Chrome’s Privacy Sandbox is a failure of vision

By Bill Simmons

• Chrome’s Privacy Sandbox — an engineering project that had the potential to progress the open internet — represents a failure of vision.
• Implementing these APIs — becoming dependent on them — could leave any company at the mercy of Google’s team to keep them in place over the long run.

💡 Lightbulb moment

It’s not a vision statement that’s going to lead to value. Instead, what it delivers is a massive investment in a project that could make the open internet a worse place for advertisers and publishers.

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What the Tech is interoperability?

By John McDermott

• As third-party cookies are phased out in 2024, advertisers are adopting new interoperable identity solutions as an upgraded currency, allowing them better insight into ad targeting and frequency.
• Increased interoperability would allow brands to have a more holistic view of their advertising campaigns across channels.

💡 Lightbulb moment

A widely adopted interoperable currency can allow advertisers and publishers to speak the same language, connecting buyers and sellers in a seamless way.

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Here’s what you missed if you were only paying attention to Generative AI this year

By Zac Wang

• Generative AI, retail media, first-party data, and connected TV have been at the forefront of marketers’ thoughts and budgets for the past year.
• But marketers shouldn’t ignore other underrated trends, like “glocalization” and “faux-out-of-home,” which are reshaping the industry in the background.

💡 Lightbulb moment

“Rather than doing something like trying to maximize the number of impressions or minimize the cost of impressions or trying to outshout your competitors, make sure that you’re not in very cluttered pages and environments.” 

– Dan Calladine, head of media futures, Dentsu International

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