Disney Expands “Magic Words” Ad Feature To Live Programming, Touts Other Tech Advancements At CES Showcase

Disney said it is expanding its “Magic Words” advertising feature, introduced last year, to live programming.

That and other innovations were touted by the media giant Wednesday at its fifth annual Tech and Data Showcase at CES in Las Vegas.

“Emotional engagement has the power to make us feel something deeply meaningful. And that is the most valuable currency of them all,” Disney Advertising President Rita Ferro said onstage.

Citing the 157 million monthly active users across Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+, she said the new initiative would look to use technology to connect brands with key sports and live entertainment events using what Ferro called “scene-level metadata.”

Disney has been working with agency Magna Global and brands like Chipotle and T-Mobile to test the technology, with strong results, according to Ferro. “Emotional connections to key moments boosted brand perception and engagement significantly,” she said.

The presentation lasted less than 40 minutes and featured a handful of execs from the Disney Advertising group speaking at The Chelsea, a theater in the Cosmopolitan hotel.

One of the speakers was Josh Mattison, EVP, Digital Planning & Operations, Disney Advertising. He discussed insights the company has gathered about the integrations it has done of Hulu and ESPN+ on Disney+. “People are watching more content when we offer it in a seamless, integrated experience,” he said. “Offering content across multiple platforms is not cannibalizing viewership — it’s expanding it.”

Prior to the showcase, Disney had introduced a separate set of live programming initiatives to enable brands to take advantage of unexpected sports moments. It also announced the 157 million MAUs, 112 million of which are in the U.S.