LAS VEGAS – At CES 2026, Walt Disney Co. showcased a growing push to modernize advertising workflows by combining advanced technology with its storytelling heritage.
Alex Combs, vice president of product management, advertising platforms at the media and entertainment giant, said the company is focused on building products that deliver speed, ease and value for advertisers.
“Really exciting week,” Combs said in this interview with Beet.TV contributor David Kaplan, noting Disney had just wrapped its sixth tech and data showcase. “We really focused on speed, ease and value. How are we building things that are going to make things faster, easier to use and bring more value to buyers?”
Speed, ease and the Disney differentiator
Combs said Disney’s approach starts with simplifying how advertisers plan and buy media, while leaning into what sets the company apart.
“Disney is one of the world’s preeminent storytelling companies,” he said. “That magic we bring is about combining storytelling expertise, technical expertise and creativity to build really unique and innovative products.”
AI was a central theme at the showcase, but Combs stressed that Disney views it as an assistive tool rather than a replacement for people.
“How is Disney bringing AI to the forefront and combining it with human expertise and creativity to really bring value and impact for buyers?” he said.
Rebuilding media planning with an agentic platform
One of the headline announcements was an AI-powered media planning platform designed to overhaul a process Combs said has barely changed in more than a decade.
“Highly manual, lots of back and forth, a process that can take weeks to get right,” he said of traditional planning.
The new platform captures advertiser inputs such as objectives, targets and timing, then generates an optimized plan in minutes.
“We can build a plan for them in just minutes,” Combs said. “Not just fast, but in an optimized manner that helps surface opportunities they may not be aware of.”
He added that the goal is to reduce friction and eliminate repeated revisions.
“Ideally we bring them something they’re going to approve and want to buy on the first go through,” Combs said. The system is already live internally, with Disney planners using it today.
Advertiser feedback from CES meetings
Beyond the showcase, Combs said CES remains invaluable for face-to-face conversations with advertisers. Many discussions echoed the same themes. “Be brilliant at the basics,” he said, describing demand for tools that simplify core buying processes alongside interest in more innovative capabilities.
Those conversations also highlighted barriers for smaller and mid-sized advertisers, particularly the need for video creative to enter connected TV. “Buying in CTV and buying at Disney has historically been a challenge because you have to have a video commercial to run,” Combs said.
Making video creation more accessible
To lower that barrier, Disney announced a forthcoming video generation tool that blends AI with a human-led creative process.
“We’re bringing that Disney magic and storytelling expertise with cutting-edge technology,” Combs said, describing a workflow that helps advertisers rapidly build high-quality video.
The tool guides advertisers through defining audience and objectives, refining a storyboard and producing finished video that can be paired with interactive ad formats.
“For small and medium-sized businesses, it makes CTV accessible to them,” Combs said.
For larger brands, the same system supports creative variation at scale.
“It opens the door to creating more impactful variations on the creative they want to run with us,” Combs said, adding that balancing innovation with easier fundamentals puts Disney “in a really great place” as advertiser needs continue to evolve.
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