Facebook’s Top Advertiser Disney Cuts Ad Spending, WSJ Says

Yueqi Yang, Bloomberg News

A visitor extends an arm while riding the Dumbo the Flying Elephant ride in Fanasyland at Walt Disney Co.'s Disneyland Resort in Hong Kong, China, on Thursday, June 18, 2020. Hong Kong Disneyland reopened Thursday under health restrictions to check the spread of infections in a pandemic that's seeing a second wave of outbreaks, including a flare up this week in Beijing. Photographer: Lam Yik/Bloomberg , Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) -- Walt Disney Co., the No. 1 advertiser on Facebook Inc., has “dramatically slashed” spending on the platform, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the situation.

The move comes as a growing list of companies, including Coca-Cola Co. and Verizon Communications Inc., halted spending on the platform amid criticism of the social media giant’s handling of hate speech and misleading content. Disney was Facebook’s top U.S. advertiser for the first six months of 2020, devoting an estimated $210 million on ads just for Disney+, the Journal said, citing research firm Pathmatics Inc.

The time frame for Disney’s pullback wasn’t clear, the newspaper reported. Advertising of its streaming service Disney+, as well as spending on Instagram for Disney’s Hulu streaming service, has been halted on Facebook.

Disney has fewer movies to market this summer because the coronavirus lockdown led to a delay of film premieres. However, it’s unlikely that ad spending will return when new films need promotion unless the social platform polices itself better, an unidentified person told the newspaper.

Disney representatives had no immediate comment, while Facebook said in a statement that it knows it “has more work to do,” the Journal said.

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