The third time must be the charm.
When Netflix hosted its first-ever upfront event in 2023, just a few months after launching its ad-supported tier, it promised that better measurement and targeting tools were coming.
During its presentation last year, Netflix announced plans to build its own bespoke ad tech platform to solve advertiser frustrations over the lack of scaled supply.
Well, the Netflix Ad Suite (NAS) is finally available in the US and Canada – it launched on April 1 – and, apparently, it’s already working wonders.
According to Amy Reinhard, Netflix’s president of advertising, who first stepped into the role in late 2023, this will be the company’s “biggest year ever,” although she didn’t clarify what that means in terms of anticipated revenue.
By June, NAS will launch in all 12 countries where ads are currently available, including France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico and South Korea, Reinhard told the audience during Netflix’s upfront presentation on Wednesday in New York City.
(Well, technically “Emily in Paris” star Lily Collins shared the news first during a taped segment, but it the moment it certainly felt like a joint effort.)
Reinhard also revealed that Netflix’s ad-supported tier currently reaches more than 94 million monthly active user profiles, which she equated to roughly 170 million monthly active viewers altogether. Those viewers, she said, are also paying attention to the ads as much as they are to the content and are still just as engaged three hours into a watch session.
To better reach these viewers, Netflix is updating its ad tech platform with expanded data capabilities.
For example, advertisers can now match their own first-party data with Netflix viewer data through LiveRamp and access third-party data through new integrations with Experian and Axciom. Netflix also has relationships with multiple data clean room providers, including Snowflake, InfoSum and LiveRamp.
Meanwhile, Netflix is hard at work developing its own contextually personalized midroll and pause ads that incorporate product information, call-to-action buttons and other interactive features. These will be available at some point in 2026. (Something to look forward to for the next upfront, perhaps?)
“If you take anything away from today, I hope it’s this,” concluded Reinhard. “The foundation of our ads business is in place and, going forward, the pace of progress is going to be even faster.”
