Netflix Ads Tier Tops 94 Million

More than 94 million Netflix members are on an ad-supported plan, the streaming giant revealed in its third-ever Upfront, highlighting a wealth of new and returning series to advertisers.

“When you compare us to our competitors, attention starts much higher and ends much higher,” said Amy Reinhard, Netflix’s president of advertising. “And even more impressive, members pay as much attention to mid-roll ads as they do to the shows and the movies themselves,” she said.

Per the streamer, ads on its service have eight times higher brand favorability vs. the CTV average, 162 percent higher sales per impressions and three times higher purchase intent. What sets Netflix apart is “our ability to marry art and science, combining best-in-class technology with the shows and movies that everyone is talking about and watching,” Reinhard said. “So while a lot of companies are either/or—either they have great technology, or they have great entertainment—our superpower has always been the fact that we have both. And because our audience is unique, engaged and attentive, a dollar spent on Netflix is more valuable than a dollar spent anywhere else.”

The Netflix Ads Suite arrives in EMEA next week after successful rollouts in U.S. and Canada, and will be available in all 12 ad-supported countries by June. “By controlling our own ad tech, we’ll be able to deliver newer tools, better measurement and more creative formats. The Netflix Ads Suite is also designed to help you tap into the magic that makes Netflix Netflix. And it does that in a few big ways.”

The service’s CMO, Marian Lee, highlighted new global co-branded creative campaigns coming this year, including Wendy’s, Cheetos and Booking.com for the return of Wednesday. “It’s all about bringing stories to life in ways none of us can do on our own. And that’s our idea of the perfect partnership,” she said.

Bela Bajaria, Netflix’s chief content officer, was on hand, noting that the platform is  “programming a slate, not slots. That means that my team is thinking about all the titles we release all year—across many countries and languages. And we’re making sure we have shows and films for everyone and every mood. Our audiences expect us to have the best of everything. And we try to keep them on their toes with some unexpected surprises too. That’s why when we have the opportunity to take big, bold swings and get the NFL on Christmas Day, a surprise boxing match, or the WWE every week, we move quickly and we make it happen.”

Series renewed include Bridgerton for seasons five and six and Forever for season two, plus Love on the Spectrum, Million Dollar Secret, My Life with the Walter Boys, Survival of the Thickest, The Diplomat and The Four Seasons. New titles include The Body, a coming-of-age drama created by Quinn Shepherd; All the Sinners Bleed, based on the best-selling novel; an untitled Dan Levy comedy series and the films Here Comes the Flood with Denzel Washington and Daisy Edgar-Jones and Fight for ‘84 with Jamie Foxx. The platform is also rebooting Star Search and announced the Deion Sanders doc Prime Time.