Diving brief:

• Netflix has hired Nicolle Pangis as vice president of advertising, according to details shared with Marketing Dive. She will report to Advertising President Amy Reinhard.
• Formerly CEO of TV ad sales company Ampersand, Pangis will leverage his industry connections, operational experience and data-driven approach to oversee the platform’s ad sales and account management team in the United States and Canada.
• Pangis replaces Peter Naylor, who left Netflix in July. The move comes as the company evolves its advertising strategy and seeks to reach critical mass for advertisers next year.

Dive overview:

Netflix continues to prepare for the next evolution of its advertising business with its latest hire. The streaming platform launched its ad plan in November 2022 and hopes to reach critical mass for advertisers in countries with ad-supported plans in 2025. Netflix ad subscriptions grew 34% quarter-over-quarter in the third quarter of 2024 and now represent half of all advertising plans. increases in its advertising markets.

In Pangis, Netflix has found a veteran of the advertising world with deep knowledge and experience in programmatic video and television. As CEO of Ampersand, she helped the company capture 75% of the U.S. addressable TV market footprint in just a few years. Previously, she held roles at WPP’s media arm, GroupM, and at Xaxis, the trading desk that GroupM axed earlier this year. Pangis joins Netflix as the company seeks to transform its penchant for making television and film hits into a sustainable and scalable advertising business.

“Given the incredible fandom for their films and TV shows, Netflix is ​​best positioned to place the brands at the center of the cultural zeitgeist,” she said in a statement. “They deliver extremely impactful and relevant experiences to customers, and I can’t wait to get started.” »

Netflix has worked this year to expand its advertising capabilities. The company will begin testing its in-house ad tech platform in Canada next month and expand its programmatic buying capabilities with Google’s The Trade Desk and DV 360 in the U.S. and Latin America. Both initiatives will launch globally in 2025.

Netflix in the third quarter of 2024 saw revenue increase 15% year over year but has yet to release exact figures regarding subscribers and ad-supported revenue. The company does not expect its advertising business to be the main driver of revenue growth in 2025 as it seeks to balance scale and monetization, but closed its initial market at more than 150% at – above its 2023 total, with increases in all categories.

Pangis replaces former vice president of advertising Peter Naylor, who left Netflix in July. The executive had joined the company from Snapchat as the company prepared to launch its ad-supported tier in 2022.