Netflix said that it closed its upfront with sales that were up 150% from the year before.
The streaming leader entered the advertising business just last year and got off to a halting start, slowing building the number of subscribers to its ad-supported tier and seeking prices higher than a saturated market would bear. Top sales execs left.
The year’s upfront built on a small base–the company previously said advertising wouldn’t be a "primary revenue driver" in 2025–but Netflix’ president of ad sales Amy Reinhard said the company’s upfront results were “in line with our expectations.”
Reinhard said that marketers in the consumer packaged goods, tech & entertainment, auto, quick-service restaurant and retail business all made commitments.
She also said that Netflix drew sponsors tied to some of its most popular shows.
For example, L’Oreal, Pure Leaf, Amazon Audible, Puig, Booking.com, Stella Artois and Hilton have signed on as international on-screen title sponsors for Season 3 of Bridgerton.
When Emily In Paris returns, LVMN, Coty, Gucci, Kaiku Caffee Latte, Aeromexico, L’Oreal, Google and Rakuten will be on board.
Netflix also has deals lined up for Squid Game, Wednesday, Outer Banks, Happy Gilmore 2, Ginny & Georgia and Love is Blind.
“Our advertising clients remain excited about our highly engaged audience and the variety and quality of our programming,” Reinhard said.
Reinhard said that Netflix is offering advertisers new ways to buy ads on the streamer.
Marketers can set up private marketplace programmatic deals directly with Netflix through The Trade Desk, Google’s Display & Video 360 or Xandr–the Microsoft unit that had been Netflix’s exclusive partner when it started selling ads.
Google’s Campaign Manager and Innovid can be employed for impression verification joining DoubleVerify and Integral Ad Science, which monitor campaigns for fraud and viewability.
“we’ve been executing multiple programmatic campaigns with advertisers such as Expedia, Ford, T-Mobile, Mercedes-Benz, Novartis, and American Eagle,” Reinhard said.
The programmatic private marketplace buys are currently available in the U.S., Canada, Brazil, and Mexico.
Netflix also said it has launched measurement a relationship with Barb's Advance Campaign Hub in the UK and in the fall with offer campaign performance metrics from NielsenOne, Lucid (or Cint), EDO, NCSolutions, Kantar, and Affinity Solutions for all buy types.
“Over the last few months, we’ve hit great milestones for our ads business including closing another successful upfront market, building and implementing an expanded programmatic suite, enhancing our global measurement capabilities, and securing impactful global ad campaigns,” Reinhard said. “We’ll continue to improve the Netflix ads plan to ensure our members are delighted by the experience while simultaneously creating solutions that deliver results for our marketers, putting brands at the center of the best shows and films in the world, to a highly valuable and engaged audience.”
