The Future of TV Advertising Global 2024
Not enough advertisers are choosing TV and the industry must “bang that drum” if it doesn’t want the money to go elsewhere, Disney’s EMEA sales chief has warned.
At The Future of TV Advertising Global last week, Deborah Armstrong, Disney’s senior vice-president and general manager for media networks and advertising EMEA, was asked whether new advertisers exist for TV, to which she replied: “Not enough.”
While acknowledging that broadcasters are making up for the linear decline through their VOD offerings, “the pie is flat”, referring to marketers’ investment into TV.
“Too much money is not coming to TV and it’s going elsewhere,” Armstrong, who is also UK and Ireland country manager, continued. “We really need to bang that drum.”
Armstrong admitted that players have to work together to thrive, pointing out that Disney+ was “the first SVOD to join Barb because we’ve been on Barb forever [as a linear business]”. Disney+ also joined UK marketing body Thinkbox earlier this year and the team is “open to joining other bodies in Europe”.
Most importantly, Armstrong stressed: “We need the measurement, we need first-party and third-party data, we need more products, we need the technology that makes TV work like digital. Clients know there’s nothing like TV for ROI and building the brand.
“I’d just ask clients to take a hard look at their budgets and see what that split is going forward.”
Linear experience
During the interview with Adwanted Events director Justin Lebbon, Armstrong highlighted how Disney’s linear experience has helped the roll-out of Disney+.
Disney+ is available in 12 markets and coming to Turkey in February, while Disney as an advertising seller is present in 29 countries in the region.
While Disney+ is “exceeding” expectations, it has not been an easy launch. Armstrong explained: “Nothing is easy. But we’re fortunate in that we’ve been doing this for a long time.”
Disney’s experience in various markets through its other offerings means that “we can come up with a plan that’s sensible, we have local knowledge”, since adspend tends to be considered locally.
Importantly for Disney, its advertising policy is that “everything is served in a way that’s mindful, that’s suitable to the Disney audience”.
And much of this comes down to making the process as simple as possible for advertisers, acknowledging that as linear inventory contracts, VOD inventory is increasing.
Armstrong wants Disney “to be able to be bought in the way the industry wants us to be”, adding: “Beyond sponsorship, how do you do more ad-funded content? How do you let advertisers come in mindfully?”
