Disney Advertising and BrightLine collaborated with State Farm to launch a custom 'Beat the Clock' interactive advergame within FX's The Bear on Hulu. The campaign achieved engagement rates four times higher than the vendor's standard benchmark, highlighting a growing trend in mid-funnel, interactive CTV ad formats that leverage tentpole IP.
The campaign signals a shift toward mid-funnel streaming ad formats that prioritize active engagement over passive consumption. By leveraging tentpole IP like The Bear, Disney and State Farm are targeting high-value attention metrics that traditional 30-second spots struggle to capture in a fragmented CTV market. For advertisers in categories with long purchase cycles, such as insurance, these gamified units provide critical data on viewer intent and brand affinity. The ecosystem move toward programmatic availability of these units across Disney's entire streaming stack indicates that custom interactive creative is moving from experimental test-and-learns to scalable Upfront commitments. Watch for BrightLine's upcoming platform update to see if generative AI lowers the production barrier for mid-market brands to deploy similar bespoke gamified formats.
The expansion of interactive advertising follows Disney's significant technical push to modernize its ad stack. Per Broadband TV News, Disney reported in June 2026 that its in-house Disney eXperience Composer (DXC) platform now powers four distinct interactive formats on Disney+, including Gateway Go and Pause+. These internal tools allow the company to deploy new units across entertainment and sports verticals without bespoke engineering for every campaign. Disney disclosed that engagement for its Gateway Go format, which uses QR codes and push notifications, has exceeded industry benchmarks by 60% since its 2025 debut.
Broader market data confirms that connected TV (CTV) is increasingly viewed as a performance-driven channel. Per EMARKETER and IAB reports from early 2026, U.S. CTV ad spend is projected to reach $37.95 billion this year, with upfront commitments for streaming exceeding primetime linear TV for the first time ($17.7 billion versus $17.0 billion). This shift is driven by a maturing measurement ecosystem where 84% of CTV spend is now programmatic, according to Nielsen.
Beyond basic video completion rates, which remain high at over 95%, advertisers are seeking deeper signals of attention. Per Digiday, brand-lift studies from late 2025 showed that interactive units led to a 4% average increase in brand favorability, outperforming traditional mid-roll ads in capturing viewer attention. This trend is also moving internationally; BrightLine expanded its interactive partnership to include Paramount's international ad sales team in March 2026, targeting rapid growth in the UK and European streaming markets.
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