In a bid to broaden the advertising base for its Disney and Hulu streaming platforms, Disney has broadened its advertising exchange to incorporate Google's Display & Video 360 and The Trade Desk.

The expansion is facilitated through the first extension of Disney Real-Time Ad Exchange (DRAX) Direct, which aims to unify access to streaming inventory across Hulu and Disney+ for advertisers of all sizes.

SVP, Addressable Sales, Disney Advertising, Jamie Power, said the media company's objective is to "empower advertisers to transact with the freedom and flexibility that best suits their business needs."

"Years ago, we committed to a vision and strategy of delivering 50% of our advertising in an addressable and automated way. Owning our own technology stack allows us to build a direct path between our premium inventory and the leading media buying platforms in the industry, simplifying the way ads are bought and sold on Disney, while delivering greater effectiveness for our clients," he said.

DRAX Direct is designed to enable greater control and flexibility for advertisers by bringing Disney's proprietary technology stack together with two of the largest buy-side technology platforms in the industry.

Managing Director Americas, Google Marketing Platform, Stephen Yap, expressed excitement about expanding the 10-year collaboration.

"We are excited to expand on this relationship to bring Display & Video 360 demand to DRAX, providing our advertisers with a new way to directly purchase Disney's high-quality CTV inventory and reach their audience with privacy-forward solutions," he said.

A custom integration between DRAX and The Trade Desk's OpenPath technology aims to meet growing demand from advertisers for direct access to more addressable premium content with better precision and transparency. VP, Inventory Development, The Trade Desk, Will Doherty, emphasised the shared vision to maximize the value of relevant advertising, "especially at a moment when the industry needs it the most".

"We set up the building blocks when we forged our collaboration to create a new identity fabric for the open internet through Unified ID 2.0 interoperability with Disney's Audience Graph. We're continuing to innovate together by creating a custom integration between our OpenPath technology and DRAX in service of advertisers and to help drive transparency in digital media buying, as we navigate an increasingly complicated digital landscape," he said.

Disney's Real-Time Ad Exchange was launched in March 2021 as part of Disney's advertising technology platform.