Disney’s New Metric for Advertising Success

The art and science of measuring TV commercials has been a critical area of interest ever since digital advertising started taking the lion’s share of marketer’s ad dollars.

Knowing what’s responsible for making cash registers ring is the key to the buying decisions being made by marketers.

Disney, which has always asserted that it brings a special brand of marketing magic to its clients, has introduced a new data-based metric to demonstrate the effectiveness of advertising on Disney platforms. 

The Disney Advertising Brand Impact Metric was rolled out Wednesday at the Consumer Electronics Show on Wednesday. Disney said it is designed to show the “halo effect” when brand and performance channels work together to drive outcomes.

 “Disney has always been where breakthrough technology meets the world’s most beloved stories,” said Disney Global Ad Sales President Rita Ferro. 

“This year we’re doubling down on giving you more control in measurement and performance tracking opening new pathways for fandom, engagement and expression, and embedding AI into how we operate and innovate,” Ferro said.

 The new Disney Advertising Brand Impact Metric combines attention, reach, brand health, search, and attribution to show advertisers how Disney Advertising impacts whatever key performance indicators (KPIs) they think are important.

“More than ever, marketers need a better bridge between brand building and performance, and data can serve as the insight layer across campaigns and tactics,” said Dana McGraw, Disney’s senior VP of data and measurement science. “When brands can connect ad exposure to direct results, marketers gain clarity on not just what drove results – but how. The vision of the Disney Advertising Brand Impact Metric is to connect all pieces of the measurement puzzle in a single metric for advertisers to get a total view of what matters.”  

At its Global Tech & Data Showcase, Disney also introduced a Brand Portal as part of Disney Compass, its unified data platform.

Disney’s goals are grounded in three principles, McGraw said. Those are speed, simplicity and giving advertisers control and choice. 

While still in its beta phase, Compass helped clients measure nearly 100 billion impressions across thousands of campaigns. 

The new Brand Portal will allow advertisers access to their campaign results alongside category benchmarks and other industry metrics and trends in one place, she said. 

Upon launch, Brand Portal will be connected to measurement, data, and outcomes vendors including Affinity Solutions, CINT, EDO, Innovid, and VideoAmp.

“For more than a decade, we've seen the real-time impact our data-driven insights have on both campaigns and the overall customer journey,” said McGraw “Brand Portal will expand our capabilities within Disney Compass and open new possibilities for brand impact. We’re empowering advertisers to move smarter and faster to reach their goals, with data and measurement guiding their strategy.” 

Part of Compass will be an AI-powered chatbot that will be able to quickly answer clients’ questions about their marketing efforts. “Disney’s AI chatbot will become your strategic planning and measurement assistant,” McGraw said. 

In addition, Disney rolled out a new video generation tool that will help brands turn their existing marketing assets into CTV-ready commercials and a new AI-powered tool for campaign planning.

The tools will “enable you to put the right creative in front of the right viewer at the right time,” said Jamie Power, executive VP, addressable sales, at Disney. “We’re excited to move into beat testing for video generation with select clients over the next few months.”

Vertical video was another part of the presentation. The format, popular with mobile device uses, is already part of the ESPN app and is being added to Disney+ this year with news and entertainment programming on personalized feeds.

Ferro concluded by saying that the individual tools and products are more powerful by being part of a connected system. “That’s the Disney difference. Data, tech and storytelling working together . . . it’s one connected experience for our fans and for our advertisers.”

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NBC Sports is getting some special features ready for its streaming presentation of the Winter Olympics next month.

The features include Rinkside Live and Courtside Live which allow fans to pick from multiple curated feeds while ice hockey, figure skating and basketball events occur. Rinkside Live and Courtside Live are being optimized for mobile devices. 

Hockey fans will be able to see the view from a “Bench Cam” during select games, which will show players throughout the game. During some figure skating events, a Coaching camera and a Training Room camera will give viewers an inside look at the competition. 

Rinkside Live will also have a Highlight Hub with vertical videos. 

Peacock is also launching new games for its mobile app, including Prediction Games for figure skating and ice hockey, a daily Olympics Picks game and Olympics trivia. 

“Given NBCU’s breadth of marquee sports this February, we’re offering Peacock users new, fun ways to engage and watch on their terms, with unprecedented access to moments they’ve never seen before and stand-out audio and picture quality,” said Jim Denney, chief product officer, Global Streaming and NBCUniversal Media Group. “From behind-the scenes access as athletes prepare for competition to unique perspectives, Rinkside Live and Courtside Live put fans in control and take them deeper into the sports they love to celebrate, and the culture and stories that surround them.”    

On Wednesday, Comcast NBCU brass hosted an event previewing its plans for the three big events, which calls its “Legendary February,” with the Super Bowl and the NBA All-Star game, in addition to the Olympics.

NBC Sports President Rick Cordella said his team was ready for the challenge and will demonstrate “what NBC Sports does best: Make big events bigger.”

Popular aspects of NBC and Peacock’s coverage of the Paris summer game will be returning, including Gold Zone, Discovery Multiview, in-page sports hubs, interactive schedules and media standings.

“I feel that we handed the viewer the remote control and we said ‘Hey, we’re going to give you different ways to watch the Olympics,’” said Molly Solomon, executive producer & president, NBC Olympics production.

One change from the Paris plan is to put more live events on NBC. “We’re going to be live all day with the most popular sports, no loading back,” Solomon said to Olympic host Mike Tirico “That means you’re going to be hosting figure skating finals in the afternoon.” 

NBCU has also been working to get better access to the athletes. There will be more drone shots and viewers will be able to listen to the athletes when they’re on the radio with their coaches.

During the Winter Olympic, most competitors are wearing goggle and helmets. “We need to see their faces,” Solomon said. 

NBC will have cameras where the athletes are getting ready before competitions and will have microphones on players on the U.S. men’s and women’s hockey team and freestyle skiers and snowboarders.

“Our mantra is we want to make the best seat in the house even better,” Solomon said. “This is going to be our most technologically innovative winter games ever.

 NBC will have Snoop Dogg and Stanley Tucci on hand to give their impressions of the Olympic venues. 

“I read an article this morning that said sports is better with Snoop in it, and I would say the Olympics are better with Snoop,” Solomon said. 

Rather than hogging the spotlight, Dogg uses his aura to shine a brighter spotlight on the athletes. “He’s all about elevating their profiles,” she said.

Jenny Storms, the CMO for NBC Universal Television and Streaming, said that the company will be marketing the Olympics as a year-round pop-culture franchise, not just a 17-day sporting event.”

NBCU has been running promos for these Olympics for a year and a half, she said, using a celebrity-studded campaign across the assets of Comcast and NBCUniversal. 

Storms said that NBCU has also found a way to help viewers–especially younger ones–find the events they want to watch faster. 

The company has launched an AI-assistant called Oli that will be able to answer questions about what’s on and where to find it and also take users to the video on their mobile devices.

In addition to the Olympics, Oli will be providing information about the Super Bowl and the NBA All-Star Game.

“We’re meeting fans where they are and getting them to the content faster,” Storms said.

Peacock will also have special features during its coverage of the Super Bowl and NBA All-Star Game.