Disney ad-tech team merges with Hulu under Jeremy Helfand – Variety

Disney, looking for scale coordination, has teamed up with a new team to combine the company’s advertising technology and product activities – including Hulu – into a new advertising platform team.

Jeremy Helfand will lead the new ad platforms team at Walt Disney Direct-to-Consumer and International Technology Group, previously Hulu’s VP and head of the advertising platform, which he joined in 2018. The group combines existing Hulu and DTCI advertising products and brings together technology teams to develop strategies, technologies, tools and products for linear TV, streaming and digital advertising across the media.

The consolidation move harmonizes the ad-tech side of Mouse House with the integrated structure of Disney ad sales under President Rita Ferro, who now oversees Halu ad sales.

“Advertising is a critically important aspect of Disney’s business and the future of advertising requires a new level of audience first innovation driven by the industry’s most advanced TV advertising platform,” Aaron Labard, EVP and CTO of DTCI Technology, said in a statement. “Jeremy is a skilled, business-oriented technology leader whose teams have turned great ideas into cutting-edge technologies and products.”

Key areas of focus for DTCI’s advertising platforms will include ongoing support for cross-platform offers such as Disney Hulu XP, as well as the long-term development of a unified, Disney-wide advertising platform; Expansion of the “audience’s first advertising experience”, including the development of new formats that improve advertising for both audiences and brands across Disney Media properties.

The new group will work to expand programmatic advertising buying and selling platforms, as well as mine data for research, expand address advertising, and provide the ultimate feature of media purchasing everywhere.

The formation of Disney’s new advertising-technology team Disney Advertising Sales comes to the top of the Virtual Annual Upfront Road Show and precedes the July 22 presentation of Hulu’s Livestreamed Digital Content Newfront.

DTCI Technology has a global team of about 3,500 employees, including developers, information scientists and engineers. The group is responsible for the design, development and consumer experience of more than 200 Disney brand digital products, including ABC, ABC News, Disney, Disney, ESPN, FX, Marvel, National Geographic and Star Wars. It manages advertising technology and products; Data platform And global digital and linear media distribution.