Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here.
Leaked Sneak Peek
The TV industry waits with bated breath for Netflix’s and Disney’s ad-supported tiers to face off in 2023.
In the meantime, Disney’s plans got leaked to Insider.
Disney is pushing hard to promote its streaming inventory to advertisers before ads launch on Disney+. One reason: to try and look more attractive than Netflix to buyers. The presentation focuses on strong subscriber growth for Disney+, which surpassed Netflix’s subscriber count this quarter.
Disney also touts its partnership with The Trade Desk, which is supposed to help brands find their target audiences across Disney inventory.
Interestingly, Disney’s presentation also promotes Hulu pretty heavily, even though Hulu’s fate is unclear. Disney may acquire Comcast’s stake in Hulu, but it hasn’t announced its plans yet.
Perhaps Disney wants to make Hulu stand out before it jacks up the subscription price.
Disney claims in its presentation that Hulu is one of the top two streaming platforms in terms of viewership hours (the other being, surprise, Disney+).
Football Footfall
Amazon Prime tapped Nielsen to measure the NFL’s Thursday Night Football ratings. Now it’s partnering with DirecTV to distribute the stream.
While the rest of the TV industry celebrates streaming viewership surpassing cable for the first time, Amazon just got “Linear isn’t dead” tattooed on its forehead.
Sports are a cornerstone of legacy TV, and fans still leave their homes to watch games. So, starting this week, DirecTV will broadcast Thursday Night Football in public venues like bars and restaurants, including Amazon’s halftime, pregame and postgame coverage.
The move makes sense as a reach play. DirecTV for Business works with more than 300,000 venues and retailers, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The only other way to watch the game is on Amazon Prime. Amazon is the first streaming service to get exclusive airing rights to an NFL season, and this season will also mark Nielsen’s first time including streaming ratings in its weekly television-viewing report.
But Amazon is far from the only streamer cashing in on sports. Disney’s ad revenue from ESPN+ is surging.
Do You Even Lift, Bro?
G/O Media is launching G/O Media Works, an initiative that promises advertisers will only have to pay for ads if they drive measurable brand lift results, Ad Age reports.
Advertisers must commit to spending at least $300,000 (or $150,000 across two titles) to participate in the program, then choose three of five available brand lift metrics to measure, including awareness, consumer consideration, favorability, message association and/or purchase intent.
The advertiser and G/O Media will pick one agreed-upon measurement partner to evaluate campaign results across a maximum flight of three months. G/O Media guarantees that at least one of the advertiser’s three target metrics will see a statistically significant increase. (What qualifies as “statistically significant” will be determined by the measurement partner.)
If the campaign doesn’t drive significant lift, G/O Media will refund the cost of the campaign and the cost of measurement.
The initiative is focused solely on brand lift metrics and will not weigh performance metrics like clicks and sign-ups.
G/O Media, whose 12-title portfolio includes Gizmodo, Jezebel, Quartz and Kotaku, hopes the endeavor will attract more spending from new and repeat advertisers despite growing uncertainty about a potential recession.
But Wait, There’s More!
A whistleblower accuses Twitter of violating its FTC commitment to protect user data. [Washington Post]
The Trade Desk built a team to help marketers buy in-game ads, which it thinks will be a $100 million business within five years. [Insider]
Havas Media Group names OpenX as (yet another) preferred SSP partner. [release]
Google is running a TikTok ad attacking Apple for ruining the dating prospects of Android users with green messaging bubbles. (h/t @kylascan) [tweet]
Spanish-language streaming service Vix adds two of Vevo’s music video channels to its content mix. [Broadcasting+Cable]
Just like they did during the pandemic, marketers are prioritizing performance marketing in the face of recession-related uncertainty. [Digiday]
You’re Hired!
Direct Digital Holdings appoints Maria Vilchez Lowrey as chief growth officer. [release]
