How Netflix's ad engine is revolutionizing advertising with AI and M&A.

For Fast Company, I wrote about MoffettNathanson LLC's new "U.S. Advertising: Are We Near the AI Tipping Point?" report which highlights how generative AI is disrupting TV advertising as interest in traditional media continues to shift away. The research points to how companies like Meta, Amazon, Google-owner Alphabet, and ByteDance-owned TikTok have grown their share of the total U.S. ad market over the past 10 years. Overall, the report and its findings also speaks to the larger trend of how linear TV is on the decline while online video platforms and more affordable options like ad-supported streaming continue to grow.

Netflix is currently testing new advertising formats backed by AI to create campaigns faster as it gets closer to doubling ad revenue this year on the back of programmatic. #media #advertising https://lnkd.in/gbBF6wBn

New FreeWheel report (VMR H1 2025) highlights strong CTV growth: Ad views are up 31% in Europe and 8% in the US! Surge is fuelling programmatic ad delivery and drawing a 14% increase in unique advertisers to the space. #CTV #Programmatic #AdTech https://lnkd.in/ewTwRj69

The best thing you can pair with your Google Search Ads is CTV. As customer journeys grow more complex and span multiple touchpoints, the need to reach audiences earlier continues to rise. Connected TV (CTV) advertising offers that opportunity. Video advertising drives considerable reach and has been shown to increase the level of brand searches. When consumers see compelling video ads on their connected TVs, they often turn to search engines to learn more, compare options, or make a purchase. CTV plants the seed. Search translates that into traffic and sales. You can buy CTV in the Google Ads interface via YouTube, access premium inventory with Microsoft Ads or use a programmatic partner.

With the right creative tech, CTV will compete with social for long tail advertisers - and that’s a big deal! For a long time, video ads were out of reach for small brands. TV creative was expensive, slow, and built for big budgets. But AI is flipping that script, making it easy, fast, and affordable to produce high-quality ads that actually perform. What’s interesting is that social platforms figured this out years ago - Meta and Google didn’t just win on targeting, they locked in spend from long tail advertisers by offering seamless, self-serve creative tools that were easy, fast, and financially accessible. Now that same model is coming to CTV and the open web. And that changes the game: 👉 More brands - not just the big ones - will show up on the “big screen” 👉 More creative clutter, which means relevance and quality matter more than ever (see my last post on curation in the CTV space!) 👉 More pressure on platforms to deliver tools that are both powerful and simple At Kargo, we’ve been building for this shift: - Narrative turns brand assets into video ads instantly, democratizing CTV advertising for brands of any size  - Composer templatizes the best of Kargo’s high-performing formats for easy, self-serve creation, without the big creative agency budgets Democratizing CTV means unlocking new opportunities, and raising the bar on creative. I’m excited to share more on this soon with Casey Gordon Helen Fulkes and Natasha Desai #CTV #CreativeTech #Programmatic #AI https://lnkd.in/emkyYf8b

 🟣  𝗜𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗔𝗜 𝗰𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗱𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘁𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗰𝘆𝗰𝗹𝗲 AI is no longer limited to routine tasks: it now spans every stage of the advertising process - from ideation and format creation to automated targeting, inventory buying, ad delivery, measurement & analytics, and real-time optimization, effectively closing the loop into a continuous learning system. The industry is moving toward an “AI-first” model, where most operational work is automated while humans focus on strategic and creative leadership. 📌 Sources: exchangewire.com │ adexchanger.com │ marketing-interactive.com 🟣 𝗘𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗖𝗧𝗩 𝗮𝗱𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘁𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝘀 𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘂𝗽 𝘁𝗼 𝗦𝗠𝗘𝘀 CTV ad tech startup Vibe secured $50M in Series B funding, boosting its valuation to $410M. Vibe enables flexible, performance-driven CTV campaigns, powered by AI algorithms for targeted and optimized ad delivery, making it available to SMEs. The investment highlights both the consolidation of the CTV market and its growing attractiveness to investors. 📌 Sources: techcrunch.com │ variety.com │ bloomberg.com 🟣 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝘁𝘀 𝗔𝗱𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘁𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴: 𝗪𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗖𝗧𝗩 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝗧𝗩❓ US: CTV ad spend is growing at double-digit rates and is projected to surpass linear TV in 2028 - $46.89B vs $45.10B. US, TV/Video: In 2025, digital video (incl. CTV, social video, online video) will capture nearly 60% of total TV/video ad spend, extending 2024’s tipping point. Europe: Digital accounted for 67.2% of all ad spend in 2024. In the UK, online sectors already make up 42% of TV & online-video revenues (2024), and CTV ad revenue grew +25% YoY to £1.5B. Global: Social media remains the largest ad channel in 2025, reaching $306.4B (~26.2% share). 📌 Sources: emarketer.com│ iab.eu │warc.com 🟣 𝗧𝗲𝗰𝗵𝗻𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝘆 𝗚𝗹𝗼𝗯𝗮𝗹 𝗣𝗿𝗶𝘃𝗮𝗰𝘆 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝘁𝗼𝗰𝗼𝗹 (𝗚𝗣𝗣): 𝗮 𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗹𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗲𝗻𝘁 ❞𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗴𝘂𝗮𝗴𝗲❞ 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘄𝗲𝗯, 𝗺𝗼𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗲 & 𝗖𝗧𝗩 In 2025, IAB Tech Lab is migrating the industry from the TCF API to the GPP API, consolidating cross-regional consent/choice signaling (EU, US, CA, etc.). This reduces fragmentation and standardizes measurement and activation across markets-including CTV-by providing one interoperable privacy string and API for buyers, sellers, and ad-tech vendors. 📌 Sources: iabtechlab.com │ support.google.com │ docs.prebid.org 🟣 𝗤𝘂𝗼𝘁𝗲 “95% of what marketers use agencies, strategists and creative professionals for will be handled by AI at nearly no cost.” - Sam Altman, CEO OpenAI 📌 Sources: cmswire.com │ theverge.com │ ft.com 🟪 Top stories – in a flash. Follow us! #CTV #AdTech #AIinMarketing #Programmatic #StreamingTrends #CosmonovaBroadcast #MediaTech

Netflix’s explosive growth in ad-supported users—up to 40 million monthly—has been fueled in part by in-housed ad tech and rigorous measurement. This pivot shows that digital media success increasingly hinges on first-party data and agile tech, not legacy buying models. Will the winners in digital media be those who control their tech stack—and are marketers and agencies prepared for that shift?

CTV has been riding the wave as media dollars migrate from linear to streaming, but smaller advertisers have often been left on the sidelines, daunted by production costs. Tools like LG’s Social Sync are changing that. By repurposing creator- or social-first content for CTV, brands can step into premium TV environments without huge investments. Dickies’ example shows how smart adaptation—not just bigger budgets—can drive recall, engagement, and even consideration. For me, this is a reminder that creativity is fluid. It doesn’t belong in one silo or channel. Influencer content, social ads, programmatic inventory; they all play together when strategy is smart and thoughtful. Don’t let cost or format limit where your best work can live. If the creative resonates, it will perform across platforms—linear, CTV, or otherwise. And when we think this way, we unlock both efficiency and effectiveness. #CTV #Marketing #AdvertisingStrategy #AdTech

Netflix + Warner Bros. Discovery: The Ultimate Streaming & Ad-Tech Power Play? The persistent buzz around Netflix acquiring Warner Bros. Discovery is more than just Hollywood gossip; it’s a strategic forecast. If this monumental deal were to happen, it wouldn't just consolidate content—it would forge an unprecedented, data-driven advertising behemoth capable of fundamentally reshaping the media landscape. The recent news that Netflix is partnering with Amazon Ads for programmatic buying on its ad-supported tier is the missing piece of the puzzle. It signals that Netflix is rapidly building the sophisticated ad-tech backbone necessary to fully monetize a vast, premium library like Warner Bros. Discovery's. The Game-Changing Synergy: Content Meets Programmatic Power Imagine the unparalleled IP of Warner Bros. Discovery—from the cinematic sweep of DC and Harry Potter to the prestige storytelling of HBO and the global reach of CNN—now running on a system optimized by Netflix's distribution and Amazon's ad-targeting data. How Warner Bros. Discovery Content Becomes a Hyper-Monetization Engine: - Programmatic Scale & Precision: Netflix's partnership with Amazon Ads allows advertisers to buy its inventory using highly precise, data-rich programmatic tools. Suddenly, the massive WBD library isn't just a content repository; it's a massive, addressable ad inventory that can be efficiently targeted and measured with e-commerce data—a capability no traditional media company can match. - Elevating CNN & News Assets: CNN, often seen as a challenging asset for streaming, gains a crucial new avenue. Its premium, real-time content could command premium programmatic ad rates, leveraging Amazon's DSP to target niche, high-value audiences globally—a critical monetization path beyond linear TV. - HBO's Premium Ad-Supported Future: The move makes WBD’s top-tier, quality content (like HBO dramas) immediately accessible and profitable within the ad-supported environment. Programmatic buying ensures that the premium nature of the content is matched with high-value, relevant advertisements, preserving the viewer experience while maximizing revenue. Global Reach Meets Global Ad Spend: Netflix's 260M+ global subscribers, combined with Amazon's global DSP footprint, offer WBD a one-stop shop for monetizing content internationally, solving the complexities of regional ad sales for their massive library. This isn't about simply absorbing a competitor. It’s about Netflix leveraging its distribution and newly acquired ad-tech sophistication to unlock exponential value from Warner Bros. Discovery’s content and global infrastructure. It's the blueprint for the next-generation media empire. What do you think? Does the Amazon Ads partnership make a hypothetical Netflix-WBD acquisition a financial inevitability rather than just a content grab? #Netflix #WarnerBrosDiscovery #AmazonAds #ProgrammaticAdvertising #MediaAcquisition #StreamingWars #HBO #AdTech