Disney Advertising has partnered with Walmart Connect to allow advertisers to target Disney's streaming portfolio, including Disney+ and Hulu, using Walmart's shopper data. As part of the deal, Disney will also join Walmart's Partner Lab, a group that tests new ad formats and measurements. This partnership follows a trend of increased collaboration between retailers and CTV platforms due to the rise of retail media and the impending deprecation of Google's third-party cookies.
Disney's senior vice president of addressable sales, Jamie Power, emphasized the company's aim to create an open ecosystem for clients to transact on the data that works for them. This could include retail media data or identity framework from DSP partners.
A unique aspect of the Disney-Walmart deal is the use of Disney's Audience Graph, which translates insights across ad-supported audience touch points, including digital, social, and streaming, as well as household-level data. Walmart's purchase data will be synced with Disney's Audience Graph using clean-room technology in a private marketplace. This will provide advertisers with more flexibility and clearer sales attribution.
For the first time, Disney will use shopper data in streaming, using programmatic and biddable technology to identify audience matches. The new targeting capabilities will initially be available to a small group of advertisers across various categories, with a broader rollout planned in the coming months.
The partnership is seen as a response to the fall in linear TV viewership and the capabilities of Amazon in TV. The combination of Disney's content and Walmart's omnichannel purchase data is expected to provide robust streaming choices for advertisers.
