According to Business Insider, Netflix’s ads president Amy Reinhard revealed that interactive and modular ad formats are her top priority for the company’s advertising future. The streamer is now testing interactive video ads in the US and Canada this month, marking a significant shift in their approach. Netflix also introduced a new metric showing it reaches 190 million monthly active viewers globally for its ad-supported tier, which it defines as members watching at least one minute of ads monthly multiplied by household size. Reinhard said Netflix has made “great progress” addressing early concerns about scale and measurement three years into its ad efforts. The company is on track to more than double its ad revenue in 2025, though it hasn’t disclosed specific revenue figures.
Sponsored content — provided for informational and promotional purposes.
The interactive ads gamble
Here’s the thing about interactive ads – they sound great in theory, but I’m skeptical about how many people actually want to engage with advertising when they’re trying to watch content. Netflix is basically betting that viewers will choose to interact with ads rather than just tolerate them. Remember when everyone was excited about QR codes in ads? How many people actually scanned them? Interactive formats could be the next shiny object that advertisers love but viewers ignore.
The metric shuffle
Now let’s talk about that 190 million monthly active viewers number. Netflix changed how they count from “profiles watching ads” to this new MAV metric that multiplies by household size. It’s clever, really. They’re essentially saying “don’t look at individual profiles, look at potential eyeballs in the room.” But advertisers aren’t stupid – they’ve been burned by inflated metrics before. The question is whether this new number actually reflects real engagement or just makes Netflix’s ad tier look bigger on paper.
The targeting expansion
Netflix is expanding targeting to include education, marital status, and household income. That’s a massive data collection effort, and it raises serious privacy questions. How much does Netflix really know about its users’ personal lives? And are people comfortable with their streaming service knowing their income bracket or marital status? This feels like Netflix is playing catch-up with platforms that have been in the advertising game for decades, but they might be overcompensating with aggressive data collection.
The brand integration reality
They’re integrating brands like Fiat and Nestlé into shows like “Stranger Things.” But let’s be honest – product placement isn’t new, and viewers are getting savvier about spotting it. When every popular show becomes a vehicle for brand integration, does it start to cheapen the content? Netflix built its reputation on creating premium, ad-free experiences. Now they’re walking a tightrope between monetization and maintaining that premium feel. The risk is that they end up alienating the very subscribers who made them successful in the first place.
