Disney+ AVOD To Limit Ads To 4 Minutes Per Hour, Preclude Ads To Preschoolers
- by Karlene Lukovitz @KLmarketdaily, May 17, 2022
Disney+’s ad-supported tier, expected to launch late this year, will limit commercials to about four minutes per hour, and eschew ads in programming targeted to preschoolers.
The specifics were revealed by Disney executives in interviews with TheWall St. Journal.
At four minutes, Disney+’s ad load would be about the same as the ad-supported tier of HBO Max, slightly lower than Peacock’s (5 minutes per hour), and about 50% lower than the ad-supported tier of Hulu, which is majority-owned by Disney.
Disney+ is looking for a $50 to $60 CPM, which is in line with other major streaming services, ad buyers told The Journal. (Disney isn’t commenting on planned ad pricing.)
As for young children, Disney+ is vowing it will never “collect data on individual kids to target them,” Disney’s President of Ad Sales and Partnerships, Rita Ferro, said.
Assuming that the CPM cited by this report as Disney's asking price is for 30-second spots, that means that it wants about double the CPM that "linear TV"---broadcast and cable---gets ---which makes sense in terms of earning enough ad revenues to make up for the very reduced ad clutter that is being promised. The question is does it make sense as an advertising buy as well?
First off, advertisers will need to know not only how many AVOD subs Disney signs up but their audience composition. Will the average minute "viewers" be heavily weighted towards children and teens---as with Disney+---- or a far more balanced mix of various age groups, including older adults? Also, one might expect that the Disney AVOD time sellers will come armed with some solid research---perhaps from TVision---to show that their commercials garner more attentive audiences than those on "linear TV"---which will help advertisers to swallow the much higher CPMs.
It will be interesting to see how the folks at Disney handle thie new venture.