Netflix Co-CEO Projects Nearly Doubling Ad Revenue in 2025

While tariff uncertainties, the possibility of a full-fledged global trade war, and the economic turmoil it could cause are making advertisers nervous, video streaming service Netflix remains optimistic.

"We aren't currently seeing any signs of softness from our direct interactions with (ad) buyers," co-CEO Greg Peters said on the company's earnings call last Thursday."Actually, quite the opposite. As we approach our upfront event, we are seeing some positive signs from clients.

Netflix Upfronts is the company's annual event at which it showcases its content slate and advertising opportunities to prospective customers. The video streamer will host his third event, which is set to take place in May 2025.

"We are currently small in ads," admits Peters, before adding, "that smallness probably provides us some insulation from market shifts right now".

Despite this, the co-CEO believes that "we will roughly double our advertising revenue in 2025" through a mix of upfront sales, programmatic expansion, and scatter.

The video streamer's revenue for the first quarter of 2025 was $10.54 billion, up 12.5% from the previous year.

Netflix will expand its proprietary ad suite, which is already available in Canada and the United States, to ten additional markets. This expansion is critical to its goal of doubling advertising revenue.

According to Peters, the most significant benefit Netflix has seen from the ad suite is that "it simply provides more flexibility for advertisers, more ways for them to buy, and fewer activation hurdles." We can improve the overall buyer experience iteratively."

Netflix provided ad-free streaming until it introduced 'Basic with Ads' in 2022. The plan is now available in 12 countries, but it does not include India, where the platform still offers four ad-free streaming options.