Netflix News from 2024 Upfronts

At Netflix’s second Upfront presentation to advertisers, the message was clear: When you advertise with Netflix, you can reach the most engaged audience in the world.

Advertising Growth 

Amy Reinhard, Netflix’s President of Advertising, walked advertisers through the continued growth and momentum of Netflix’s ad-supported plan, which now has 40 million global monthly active users — up from 5 million a year ago. Over 40% of all signups in the ads countries now come from the ads plan. 

Netflix also featured new partners that advertisers can use to measure and verify the impact of their campaigns, including Affinity Solutions, DoubleVerify, EDO Inc, Integral Ad Science, iSpotTV, Kantar, Lucid, NCSolutions, Nielsen and TVision.

New Ad Tech

Looking ahead, Reinhard announced Netflix will launch an in-house advertising technology platform, by the end of 2025. This will give advertisers new ways to buy, new insights to leverage, and new ways to measure impact. 

“Bringing our ad tech in-house will allow us to power the ads plan with the same level of excellence that’s made Netflix the leader in streaming technology today,” she said. 

This summer, Netflix will also expand its buying capabilities to include The Trade Desk, Google’s Display & Video 360, and Magnite who will join Microsoft as the main programmatic partners for advertisers.

All of these enhancements are designed to make Netflix even better for clients. “We’re being incredibly strategic about how we present ads because we want our members to have a phenomenal experience. We conduct deep consumer research to make sure we stay ahead of the competition, bringing opportunities that are better for members and better for brands,” said Reinhard.

Engagement 

As Bela Bajaria, Netflix’s Chief Content Officer, explained, “Our audiences are highly engaged — and by engaged I mean that they are choosing to spend their time watching Netflix. That’s important because engagement is the key to success in streaming. When people watch our shows and movies, they get more value from Netflix, they stick around longer, and they’re more likely to recommend us to their friends. And this matters to all of you because you want to be where the audiences are, too.” 

According to Nielsen, over the last three years, Netflix had more top 10 titles than every other streaming service combined.

Over 70% of Netflix’s ad-supported members watch for more than 10 hours a month — which is 15 percentage points higher than the nearest competitor, according to Nielsen. Netflix members also pay even more attention three hours into watching than they do when they first start. And because they do, they’re around twice as likely to respond to an ad compared to other streaming services and linear TV.

New Series, Movies and Live Events 

Bajaria also talked about how Netflix needs a variety of quality shows,movies and live events that members will love throughout the year — across many, many genres, cultures and languages. And that’s exactly what they’ll get in 2024 and 2025. 

Netflix announced new series, including witty comedies like Golf, starring Will Ferrell and executive produced by Ramy Youseff and Rian Johnson, and Running Point, starring Kate Hudson and executive produced by Mindy Kaling. 

Two new dramas will also be coming to Netflix: The Waterfront from Kevin Williamson, an adult family drama set in a small coastal town with twists and turns inspired by true events, and a contemporary cowboy saga starring Tim McGraw. And, Bajaria announced that the critically acclaimed series 3 Body Problem will also be back for all new episodes.

For sports fans, Netflix highlighted multiple new shows, including a new documentary series following the story of Jerry Jones and the 1990s Dallas Cowboys, and three series in partnership with the International Olympic Committee: Simone Biles: Rising which will follow the comeback of the greatest gymnast ever, a show spotlighting men’s basketball teams from around the world as they compete for medals, and Sprint, tracking the 100-meter sprinters.  

New films announced include Happy Gilmore 2 starring Adam Sandler, The Woman in Cabin 10 based on the bestselling novel of the same name and starring Keira Knightley, and a new film from Academy Award® winner Kathryn Bigelow. 

And the NFL is coming to Netflix. That’s right, Netflix will be the global home of the NFL’s two Christmas Day marquee games this year. And we’ll be streaming at least one Christmas Day game in 2025 and 2026.

The Netflix Effect 

Netflix Chief Marketing Officer Marian Lee shared how Netflix shows and films influence culture — a phenomenon that has become known as the Netflix Effect. “It starts with wonderful stories that become unmissable moments for millions of fans,” Lee said. “But then it spreads across Netflix — where our trailers get billions of views — and across our social media channels, where we have a billion very active followers.”  

The Netflix ads plan and live events now give advertisers even more opportunities to thoughtfully engage with this fandom, leveraging its growing marketing and creative teams to help more brands find a home in their world. “We’ll help you reach more fans and give you more access on-screen, off-screen, and during some of our biggest moments,” Lee said.

As an example of one of these new opportunities, the company announced that Celsius will be the first presenting sponsor for the upcoming live Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson event this July. Brand partners for the fight will have featured placements throughout the broadcast and customized branding inside the ring.

Closing the presentation, Peter Naylor, Vice President of Advertising Sales, said, “There’s a lot to be excited about over the next year. But the story of ads on Netflix this year is pretty simple: It’s about growth and momentum.”

The Netflix Experience

This year, Netflix unveiled an interactive Upfront experience showcasing popular titles like Bridgerton, Squid Game, Wednesday and more for advertisers to engage with. 

Upcoming 2024 Slate Highlights: 

Returning Favorites 

• Arcane S2 – Award winning animated series
• Cobra Kai S6 – Critics’ Choice award winning action comedy series
• The Diplomat S2 – Golden Globe nominated drama series
• Emily in Paris S4 – Emmy nominated romantic comedy-drama series
• Heartstopper S3 – BAFTA nominated coming-of-age series
• Mo S2 – Final season of award winning drama series
• Outer Banks S4 – People’s Choice award winning drama series
• Squid Game S2 – Emmy® award winning Korean drama series
• Sweet Tooth S3 – Final season of Emmy award winning family drama series
• The Umbrella Academy S4 – Final season of Emmy nominated drama series
• Unstable S2 – Comedy series starring Rob Lowe
• Vikings Valhalla S3 – Historical drama series

New Prestige Dramas 

• American Primeval – Action-thriller western limited series directed by Pete Berg
• Black Doves  – Keira Knightley and Ben Whishaw star in spy thriller
• Eric – Limited thriller series starring Emmy award winner Benedict Cumberbatch
• KAOS  – Greek mythology twisted drama starring Jeff Goldblum
• The Madness – Conspiracy thriller starring Emmy award winner Colman Domingo
• Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story  – Second installment of Ryan Murphy’s Monster anthology series
• The Perfect Couple – Book adaptation of Elin Hilderbrand’s New York Times bestseller
• Supacell – Superhero series written and directed by Andrew Onwubolu

New Comedy Series

• A Classic Spy – Based on the 2020 documentary The Mole Agent, starring Ted Danson
• The Decameron – Comedy series from creator and showrunner Kathleen Jordan
• No Good Deed – Starring Emmy award-winning actors Lisa Kudrow and Ray Romano
• Nobody Wants This – Romantic comedy starring Kristen Bell and Adam Brody [Download first look photo HERE.]
• Running Point – Starring Kate Hudson [Download first look photos HERE.]

New Unscripted Series

• AMERICA’S SWEETHEARTS: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders – New series about the most iconic franchise in cheerleading
• Rhythm & Flow S2 – Hit music competition series returns with new hosts DJ Khaled, Ludacris and Latto

New Premium Documentaries 

• Homicide: Los Angeles – Docuseries from the mind of Law & Order creator Dick Wolf (preceded by Homicide: New York which premiered earlier this year)
• Our Oceans – Produced by Freeborne Media, Wild Space Productions
• Untitled K Pop doc series – Docuseries about the rigorous process of making a global music sensation

New Sports Series

• Receiver – From the creators of Quarterback, the series follows pass-catchers during the NFL 2023-24 season
• Untitled 2004 Red Sox Series – A look at the historic 2004 Red Sox season that  culminated with one of the greatest comebacks in sports.

New Live Events

• Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson – Heavyweight boxing mega-event sanctioned as a professional fight 

Select Upcoming Films

• Atlas – Jennifer Lopez stars in the sci-fi action thriller
• Back in Action – Jamie Foxx and Cameron Diaz star in this action comedy stars [Download first look photos HERE]
• Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F – Eddie Murphy returns to the iconic franchise
• Carry-On – Taron Egerton and Jason Bateman star in this action thriller
• Family Affair – Nicole Kidman and Zac Efron star in this romantic comedy
• Hit Man – Glen Powell leads Richard Linklater’s steamy dark comedy
• Hot Frosty – Lacey Chabert stars in this holiday rom-com
• The Merry Gentleman – Chad Michael Murray stars in this holiday rom-com
• The Piano Lesson – Film adaptation of the award-winning play starring Samuel L. Jackson and produced by Denzel Washington
• Rez Ball – Coming-of-age sports drama produced by LeBron James
• The Six Triple Eight – Tyler Perry writes, directs and produces the film based on an inspiring true story starring Kerry Washington
• Woman of the Hour – Anna Kendrick’s directorial debut

Non-English Language 

• 100 Years of Solitude (Colombia)
• Breathless (Spain)
• Do Patti (Indonesia)
• Élite S8 (Spain)
• El Eternauta (Argentina)
• Ferry 2 (Belgium)
• Gyeongseong Creature S2 (Korea)
• LALIGA: All Access (Spain)
• Pedro Páramo (Mexico)
• Senna (Brazil)
• Tour de France: Unchained S2 (France)
• The Empress S2 (Germany)
• The Helicopter Heist (Sweden)
• The Law According to Lidia Poët S2 (Italy) 
• The Queen of Villains (Japan)
• Uprising (Korea)

By the Numbers:

Advertising Stats:

• Netflix’s ad-supported plan now has 40 million monthly active users. 
• Over 40% of all signups in Netflix’s ads markets come from our ads plan. 
• Netflix ad-supported members have a higher household income and are younger than linear TV audiences, with a median age of 37. 
• Over 70% of Netflix’s ad-supported members watch for more than 10 hours a month – which is 15 percentage points higher than the nearest competitor according to Nielsen.
  • More than half of Netflix’s ad-supported members watch Netflix for more than 20 hours per month. 
• According to TVision, Netflix’s ad-supported members’ attention is the highest competitively when evaluating a three-hour span. 
• According to EDO Inc., Netflix members are around twice as likely to respond to an advertisement on Netflix compared to other streaming services and linear TV. 

Programming Stats:

• Netflix has 270 million subscribers.  
• According to Nielsen, in 2024, Netflix has more hours in the Top 10 than any other streaming service combined. 
  • Over the last three years, Netflix has had more Top 10 titles than every other streaming service combined.
• In 2023, Netflix members watched 183 billion hours of Netflix.