Netflix’s Bold New Pitch to Advertisers: ‘We Can Compete With Anyone’

The skip button doesn’t apply to Netflix ads.

Around three and a half years after launching its ad business, Netflix is on pace to double its ad revenue for the second year in a row, set to reach $3 billion in 2026. In addition, its ads plan represents more than 60% of sign-ups in countries with the tier, and its programmatic business has grown to nearly 50% of its advertising as it has added DSP partners like Yahoo and Amazon.

As the company heads into its upfront event on May 13 in New York City, ads leader Amy Reinhard says the streaming giant is prepping to make its mark.

“We’ve been building over the past couple of years, and I would say that this upfront for us is really our stamp that we can compete with anyone,” Reinhard told ADWEEK. “And on a global basis, just really excited about how far the business has come and how much more opportunity there is for us.”

Those opportunities include the streamer’s massive live events on the way, including the third year of Netflix’s 3-year deal with the NFL for Christmas Day games and the Women’s World Cup coming in 2027. Plus, the company has increased its ad integrations in recent years, with brands having increasingly integral roles in its content.

Speaking with ADWEEK, Reinhard previewed the company’s upfront pitch, shared its strategy around the Women’s World Cup, and noted that more brand integrations and partnerships are on the way.

ADWEEK: What are the priorities heading into the upfront?

Reinhard: The biggest priority is just the communication of the fact that we’re three and a half years into this journey, and we’re really excited about this year. A year ago, we launched our adtech stack, and I truly feel like our offering to the market now is that marriage of art and science—marrying the best content, and now having our adtech be in a position where we can compete with everybody else in terms of our data tools, our planning capabilities, and really offering great solutions to the marketplace. I feel really good about where we are a year into launching this tech stack.

Speaking of that, at the last earnings call, the CEOs said the programmatic business is almost 50% of the ads business. How do you see that continuing to grow?

Yeah, it has been fantastic growth, considering we just launched that pretty recently. Ultimately, we want to meet buyers where they’re at, so we started out as a direct business, and we still have a very healthy direct relationship with a lot of our key advertisers. And if that’s the way that people want to work with us, fantastic. But ultimately, we just want to make sure that it’s easy to buy with us. For those who are in the programmatic space, how can we make it easier for them? How can we expand the data and measurement capabilities and give our partners more ways to buy? So you see that with the launches of Yahoo and Amazon over the last year.

This is the second year in a row you’re set to double ad sales revenue. What do you attribute that to? Also, do you ever get to chill, or are you just doubling every year?

It is a really fun time to be in this business, and it helps when we’ve got such a fantastic content slate that really helps drive that. A key part of our success has been these live events that we’ve been doing. We’ve got a couple coming up soon. We’ve got a roast with Kevin Hart. We’ve got a fight between [Ronda Rousey vs. Gina Carano] next weekend. The fights have been fantastic for us. The NFL business is really good for us.

But then you look at the live events that we did around the world, like the World Baseball Classic in Japan. That really kick-started our business in Japan. I look at events like the Alex Honnold climb in Taiwan, those being at that intersection of culture and interests. The live piece has really helped us grow the business.

This is the last year of the 3-year NFL deal for Christmas games. Do you see that relationship continuing?

I do see that relationship continuing in the future. We’ve had great interest in those games, and I think what we’ve been able to do around eventizing the games that we’ve had—we’ve had really fantastic halftime shows as part of those events on Christmas Day. I would look to see more of that continuing. 

And you have the Women’s World Cup in 2027, what can you say about early negotiations and your strategy?

It’s very similar to the other sporting events that we’ve had. The tournament nature of that World Cup—and we will see a preview of that this year in the Men’s World Cup—but there are so many advertisers who want to be a part of those moments. So expanding the brand partnerships, as we’ve done on a lot of our great content, and weaving some of those authentic moments into the games or into the shoulder programming that we do around the Women’s World Cup. I would say those are the types of opportunities that get brands really excited, and get us excited as well. So it’s going to be a really fantastic couple of months for us, and there’s a lot of interest going into the upfronts around brands that want to get involved in the wave that is women’s sports right now.

Last year, we saw Emily in Paris/Lily Collins make an appearance at the upfront, pitching the audience as an ad executive. Is Emily returning? And what can you tell us about the presentation on May 13?

It is definitely going to be star-studded. We are going to roll out the red carpet for a lot of great talent, and obviously leaning into the great slate that we have coming up. [Bela Bajaria, Netflix chief content officer]; [Nicolle Pangis, vp, Netflix Advertising, UCAN]; and I will be taking the stage, all coming at it from different angles. I’ll be giving an overview of where we’re at on a global basis; Bella will be getting into our content; and then Nicole will be driving it home with our advancements on the data and the tech side in the U.S., and lots of really fun moments in between. You may or may not see an appearance by Emily in Paris. I think it’s going to be a really fun time.

Last upfront, you talked about using AI to get advertisers closer to the content. Can you talk about the importance there? What are advertisers gravitating toward?

Absolutely, our partners want to be close to the content. I think we’ve done a really good job with our brand partnerships in the past. When you look at things that we’ve done—and you wrote an article about this—on Running Point with State Farm and Sephora, or Bridgerton and Dove. All of the brand partnerships that we’ve done over the past year, we’re only doing more of those and bigger integrations as we get closer to those brands. And then when you think about the expansion of our live slate, and how many new opportunities that brings to the forefront, look to see a lot more of those integrations and partnerships going forward.

CTV is crowded—want to learn how brand fundamentals cut through the noise? Enroll in The ADWEEK MiniMBA in Marketing and build a strategy designed to last. Sign up here.