Disney: AI optimizes advertising playout during streaming

Despite its official exhibitor status, Disney does not appear in public at CES, but the trade fair has been an important event for the company since last year: Disney has been holding its annual "Global Tech + Data Showcase" for invited advertising customers on the fringes of CES in a hotel on Las Vegas Boulevard ever since.

And there was good news for them this year: 157 million viewers worldwide now watch the Group's streaming offerings, more than two thirds of them in its home country, the USA.

In Germany, customers have a subscription to Disney+, while Disney's streaming offering in the USA has a somewhat more complex structure: There, this also includes the "adult" video streaming service Hulu (partially integrated into the Disney+ "Star" section here), the sports channel ESPN and ABC News. This makes a big difference, as Disney also regularly streams sports, reality TV shows and events such as the Oscars live in its home country.

Advertising to match the current mood

And this is precisely where Disney is now using AI to market advertising at –. With a new function called "Magic Words Live", for example, it is supposed to use key terms to recognize the current mood and play a correspondingly prepared advertisement. You can imagine it like this: If an award winner at the Oscars has just emphasized on stage how important it is to call their mother regularly, this could be followed directly by an advertisement from a mobile phone provider about how well the family can be reached via their network. According to Disney, tests with T-Mobile and the fast food chain Chipotle were successful.

Previously, Disney had already created the option for advertisers to upload different advertising clips for different moods with "Magic Words". However, these are currently only linked to existing streaming content, which is searched for suitable keywords before being played out.

The battle for advertising in extra time

Another point applies to sports broadcasts: If it goes into extra time unexpectedly and the tension therefore rises, Disney now offers the additional advertising slots in a bidding process.

Finally, Disney wants to generate more secondary revenue by linking streaming content with functions such as allowing viewers to order products shown directly via the app or place bets during sports broadcasts. In the USA, it is already common for services such as Peacock to show viewers advertising immediately when they press the pause button.

Not all advertising functions will be used in Germany, as live streams have rarely been available on Disney+ here. However, Disney is also likely to press ahead with its plans to analyze its viewers in order to enable the most targeted advertising possible. Up to now, according to Disney manager Josh Mattison, every viewer has simply been shown the same ad at the same time. The company definitely wants to move away from this in order to satisfy the advertising partners that are so important to it.

Heise Medien is the official media partner of CES 2025. (nij)