Disney is integrating Google’s new ad tech product, known as PAIR, which provides another way for publishers to use data to power ads, especially after cookies get deprecated on Google’s Chrome web browser next year. PAIR could boost the effectiveness of major Disney advertisers by providing better targeting and measurement when they place ads on properties including Disney+ and Hulu. 

Disney and Google announced their expanded partnership today, timed to the first day of the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, where ad tech—including the death of cookies and the rise of data clean rooms—is among the most pressing subjects for discussion. Rita Ferro, Disney Advertising’s president of sales, is in Cannes to speak with the six major holding companies about PAIR, which stands for Publisher Advertiser Identity Reconciliation.

Read more: Ad leaders to confront multiple industry issues at Cannes

“When you think of the upfront conversations we’re having today,” Ferro said in an interview in Cannes on Sunday, “people want to be with the biggest players in terms of supply, to make sure that they can reach the audiences they’re looking to reach ... We want to make it easier to do that with interoperability across the biggest sources of demand in the marketplace. We did it with The Trade Desk last year. PAIR allows us to now be able to do that with Google.”

Look back: Disney teams with The Trade Desk

PAIR is a significant point of focus at Google as it rebuilds its ad technology ahead of cookies going away. Google plans to shut down cookies on Chrome at the end of next year, which cuts access to an important source of data for ad targeting and measurement online. Publishers and media companies need to embrace new technology to keep serving programmatic ads.

The industry is adapting to new forms of “identity” that rely on first-party data and consumer permissions. Google developed PAIR as its answer, and publishers such as Disney can play an important role in driving its widespread adoption. The Trade Desk, which runs a demand-side platform for advertisers to participate in online ad auctions, has been pushing Unified ID 2.0.

Disney has been building a programmatic internet ad service, which supplies about 5,000 brands, according to Ferro. In 2021, Disney released a data clean room and an ad ID program called Disney Select, which formed the backbone of its ad tech infrastructure to digest consumer data in a way that complies with ongoing online privacy changes. Advertisers use clean room technology to analyze data, build audiences for their ads and measure the outcomes. Advertisers and publishers need to connect their data sets to conduct ad operations, but they also need to secure that data and ensure they have the consent of customers for each use case for that data. Google’s PAIR is its way of providing interoperability for publishers and advertisers using clean room tech.

PAIR is “a protocol allowing Disney to match with its marketers to bring value,” said Sean Downey, Google, president, Americas and global partners.

Google wants to integrate PAIR with “high-value” publishers, Downey said, or “anyone that has a really strong first-party data strategy.”

Disney is now the largest media company to publicly adopt PAIR. The Trade Desk has been announcing tie-ups for its ID regularly, including with NBCUniversal and Paramount. At last year's Cannes, Amazon announced support for Unified ID 2.0 through Amazon Web Services.

PAIR is available through Google Display and Video 360, the demand-side platform for advertisers. Disney uses Google Ad Manager as a foundational piece of its ad tech. PAIR can help with matching audiences, addressability, ad frequency management and measurement across connected TV and other channels. Disney won’t roll out PAIR integration until next year, Ferro said. The timing overlaps with when Google will finally say goodbye to cookies on Chrome, set for the second half of next year.

Last month, Google announced deals with clean room tech companies, including InfoSum, Habu and LiveRamp.

Last year, at Cannes, Disney announced its integration with The Trade Desk’s ad ID. The ad tech company presents a serious challenge to Google in online programmatic advertising, and it has made inroads in connected TV. Google’s deal with Disney represents a step forward for the search giant in connected TV, too.

Read more: Google expands its data clean room tools

“What we want to do is create as frictionless a buying process as possible,” Ferro said. “So, if people want to buy direct, great you can buy direct. You want to buy through these partners, great you can buy through those partners. You want to buy through our self-service capabilities, we can help service you that way, as well.”

Disney, which has an ad-supported version of its streaming app Disney+, also owns Hulu, ESPN and ABC. The landscape is more competitive than ever, too, with Paramount+, Warner Bros. Discovery’s Max, NBCUniversal’s Peacock, Netflix and others getting their ad tech in line for data-hungry advertisers.

At Disney+, 40% of new signups opt into the ad-supported tier, which costs less than the ad-free version. “Ten times the opportunity today exists on Disney+, in terms of impressions for advertisers, than at the beginning of the year,” Ferro said.

Disney isn’t the only publisher out at Cannes talking ad tech. Last week, Paramount announced a new partnership with Havas Media North America and LiveRamp, the data collaboration platform. LiveRamp has developed RampID as its post-cookie identity.