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Disney is welcoming marketers back to the wonderful world of upfronts, and global advertising president Rita Ferro can’t wait to get started.
Without Hollywood strikes keeping talent away this year, Ferro noted that Disney is “way ahead” in terms of planning, talent commitments and what the company will showcase at its May 14 upfront event at the North Javits Center.
Among the highlights, Disney will tout its live tentpoles, sports programming and streaming platforms, including its combined Disney+ and Hulu integration.
Days into the beta version of the Disney+ and Hulu merger late last year, Ferro told ADWEEK that the company was seeing “better than expected metrics” for advertisers across the board. Now, since the full Disney and Hulu integration debuted in March, Ferro said the results are “even better,” with the company seeing “continued adoption and engagement” for bundle subscribers.
“They’re spending more time with the content and watching more hours of content,” Ferro said. “That will allow us to have more robust opportunities from an advertiser and a brand perspective to really take advantage of how we can target better across audiences, make sure that we’re giving the right advertising formats and ad units across both platforms, and continue to drive reach and engagement.”
In a Tuesday earnings call, the company teased how that engagement will increase further thanks to an ESPN tile coming to Disney+ later this year ahead of ESPN’s standalone streamer launching in 2025. Additionally, the company’s Disney+ ad tier now reaches 22.5 million subscribers.
Ahead of Disney’s upfront event, Ferro spoke with ADWEEK about the offerings to marketers, bringing Jimmy Kimmel back for another in-person upfront and also clarified some confusion over the new joint sports streamer from ESPN, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery.
ADWEEK: Last year’s upfront had Hollywood strikes keeping talent away and many companies making last-minute changes. What are you looking forward to from this presentation without those added hurdles?
Rita Ferro: It’s nice to have a plan and know that it’s going to be able to be executed with everything that you want to be there. Last year, until the day of, as we were heading onto the stage, things were changing in real time. I thought we did an extraordinary job given that you didn’t really feel that in the show, given the breadth of our show and the size of our portfolio.