Disney revealed how it plans to use artificial intelligence (AI) to evolve its advertising strategies at this year’s tech conference CES 2025 in Las Vegas.
During its fifth annual ‘Global Tech & Data Showcase’ event, Disney revealed how it would be utilising AI in its marketing and advertising campaigns to evolve how brands connect with audiences.
The media company introduced ‘Disney Select AI Engine’, an AI and machine learning tool that aims to drive scale and audience expansion, allowing brands to build custom lookalike audiences and deliver sequential messaging.
Also announced was ‘Disney Compass’, a tool for first-party data, insights, and vendor integration, aimed at simplifying the advertising journey. Global agency Publicis was announced as one of the first users of the tool.
The company also introduced ‘Experience Composer’, a tool for enhancing creative assets, and ‘Magic Words Live’, an expansion of its contextual targeting product for live programming. Magna Global, a leading agency, as well as brands such as Chipotle and T-Mobile, have been the first to test the new products.
“Emotional connections to key moments boosted brand perception and engagement,” said Rita Ferro, President, Global Advertising at The Walt Disney Co. “Aligning ads with the right moments in real time creates deeper consumer connections and stronger brand loyalty,” she concluded.
Beyond AI developments, Disney disclosed for the first time that an estimated 157 million monthly active streaming users are on its ad-supported plans, including 112 million domestically, across Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+.
These figures are an average per month over the past six months, the brand has said. Despite TV ratings having a standardised approach to measuring viewership, there is currently no industry standard for gauging the audiences viewing advertisements on streaming platforms.
Bob Iger, Disney’s CEO, said the company actively attempts to steer users towards its ad-supported options, partly through raising prices for its ad-free service.