Get marketing news you'll actually want to read
Marketing Brew informs marketing pros of the latest on brand strategy, social media, and ad tech via our weekday newsletter, virtual events, marketing conferences, and digital guides.
Advertisers are getting an early start to the holiday season with the gift that is Netflix’s ad-supported tier.
Netflix’s $6.99-per-month Basic with Ads officially rolled out on Thursday in the US and eight other countries. Ad loads are capped at around four to five minutes per hour, and ad formats are limited to pre-roll and mid-roll ads.
Jeremi Gorman, Netflix’s president of worldwide advertising, said that “hundreds” of advertisers were on board, and we selflessly watched programming on its ad-supported tier to check out which brands have signed on.
Brands we spotted while watching Gilmore Girls and Ozark included everything from luxury brands like Louis Vuitton, Tiffany & Co., and Bulgari to tech brands like Beats by Dre and Google. Apartments.com, Best Western, Booking.com, Cadillac, CeraVe, Duracell, Michelob Ultra, and Subway were also spotted in the mix. (There were about three ad breaks per episode, usually around 60 seconds total, plus a pre-roll ad that ran before programming.)
Get moving: There’s still work to be done. Netflix is still in the process of negotiating revised licensing agreements with some major studios before it can run advertising against their shows and movies, according to the Wall Street Journal. Plus, the company is working on getting measurement tools up and running with partners DoubleVerify, Integral Ad Science, and Nielsen.
Who wants it? It remains to be seen how many of Netflix’s ~223 million global subscribers will opt to watch with ads. In a poll last month, most Marketing Brew readers said they’d keep their existing ad-free subscriptions, but 14% each said they’d either sign up for Netflix on its ad-supported tier for the first time or switch their existing ad-free subscription to the ad-supported tier.
+1: Some media buyers recently told us that some brands have opted to wait and see how Netflix’s ad tier performs before buying in.—KS