Netflix plans AI agents for $3B ads

Netflix used its upfront presentation on May 13 to tell advertisers it is adding AI agents and other automation tools to its ad business as the company pushes toward a projected $3 billion in advertising revenue this year. The company said the tools are designed to help brands develop media plans, adapt creative for different ad formats and, in testing, manage and buy ads on Netflix. The pitch came as Netflix said its ad-supported offering now reaches more than 250 million global monthly active viewers. Amy Reinhard, Netflix’s president of advertising, told buyers at the event that the company was moving from proving it could participate in advertising to showing it could compete at scale. ### What exactly did Netflix say the AI agents will do? Netflix said on May 13 that it is “testing AI agents to manage, optimize, and purchase ads on Netflix,” according to its upfront announcement. The company separately said it now offers AI-driven tools to build and optimize media plans around a brand’s objectives. Those tools sit alongside software that can rework existing ad creative so it fits formats such as vertical video ads and pause ads. (about.netflix.com) The company did not identify vendor partners, pricing terms or a detailed deployment schedule for the AI agents. The public description from Netflix framed the tools around planning, buying and creative adaptation rather than around a standalone consumer-facing product. ### How large is Netflix’s advertising business right now? Netflix told investors in April that its advertising business is expected to roughly double to about $3 billion in 2026. (about.netflix.com) The same April update said the company works with more than 4,000 advertisers and that the ad-supported plan accounts for more than 60% of sign-ups in markets where it is available. At the upfront, the company paired that revenue target with audience scale. Netflix said its ad-supported audience now exceeds 250 million global monthly active viewers, and that more than 80% of ad-tier members are watching every week. Those figures were central to its sales pitch to agencies and brands during upfront week. ### Is this a new strategy or an extension of last year’s ad push? (finance.yahoo.com) Netflix said the latest rollout extends work it began in 2025. Last year, the company introduced technology that matched advertiser creative with the look and context of specific Netflix shows and films, and Reinhard said at the time that generative AI would be used to “marry advertisers’ ads with the worlds of our shows.” (about.netflix.com) The company said on May 13 that it has recently tested that creative-matching technology with DoorDash, Target and TurboTax, and that quality and execution have improved. Netflix also said it plans to expand that capability to all ad-supported regions by the end of 2026. ### How is Netflix widening the way advertisers can buy inventory? Netflix said its ad business is adding more inventory across newer formats including video podcasts and vertical video. (finance.yahoo.com) The company said those ad products will be available globally in 2027, extending its pitch beyond standard streaming video spots. The company also said advertisers can buy Netflix inventory through preferred demand-side platform partners, and that programmatic audience targeting across all ad-supported countries on Amazon DSP is due by June 1, with Yahoo DSP to follow in the coming months. (about.netflix.com) Netflix said it is also expanding programmatic capabilities to pause ads and live content through dynamic ad insertion. ### Where does Netflix go next? Netflix said its ad-supported plan will expand to 15 additional countries starting in 2027, including Austria, Belgium, Colombia, Denmark, Indonesia, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Peru, the Philippines, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland and Thailand. That expansion would give the company a larger base for the ad tools it outlined this week. (finance.yahoo.com) The next formal checkpoint is likely Netflix’s second-quarter earnings report in July 2026, when investors will look for updated figures on ad revenue, advertiser counts and the rollout of the company’s ad technology. Netflix has already said the AI tools and broader ad product expansion will continue through this year. (about.netflix.com)