Netflix Opens Ad Suite to The Trade Desk and 20+ Conversion Events

Netflix will give advertisers access to more than 20 lower-funnel conversion events through an enhanced Conversion API and a new Netflix Pixel, the company announced Tuesday in a blog post by Nicolle Pangis, vice president of U.S. and Canada advertising at Netflix.

The updates to Netflix Ad Suite, the streamer's in-house advertising platform, cover buying, planning and results. They arrive as Netflix is projected to double its advertising revenue for the second consecutive year. Its latest quarterly earnings, available Tuesday evening, may show whether that pace holds.

What does this change for advertisers?

The Conversion API and Netflix Pixel let advertisers test conversion lift, attribution and A/B testing using Netflix's first-party measurement solutions. Advertisers can also feed their own conversion data into the platform to build and refine audience segments — a shift that moves Netflix closer to the tooling performance marketers already use on open web platforms.

Netflix also highlighted its first-party Conversion Lift measurement, which separates incremental conversions driven by advertising from conversions that would have happened regardless. For brands under pressure to prove incremental return, that distinction is the practical payoff.

The second major change is programmatic reach. Netflix is expanding its programmatic audience capabilities beyond Yahoo DSP and Amazon DSP to include The Trade Desk audiences. Available next month, the feature lets advertisers combine third-party data partners or their own first-party data with The Trade Desk audiences across Netflix ads.

Measurement moves into the DSPs themselves. Yahoo DSP advertisers can already measure single-publisher attribution across programmatic Netflix buys, and the same capabilities are coming soon for The Trade Desk.

The backdrop: expansion and cuts

The product updates land during a turbulent stretch for the company. Netflix plans to expand its ads plan to 15 new countries next year:

• Austria
• Belgium
• Colombia
• Denmark
• Ireland
• the Netherlands
• Norway
• Peru
• Poland
• Sweden
• Switzerland

Leadership has turned over as well. Bela Bajaria, chief content officer, departed and was replaced by Peter Rice, a former Disney and Fox executive. Earlier this month Netflix laid off about 6% of its staff, roughly 1,000 jobs.

Other recent departures include film boss Dan Lin, TV executives Lisa Lang McMullen, James Oh, Carolina Garcia and Andrew McQuinn, and film vice president Doug Belgrad.

For media buyers, the near-term signal is the tooling: The Trade Desk integration goes live next month, and in-DSP attribution for that platform follows. Tuesday's earnings report will show whether the measurement build-out is converting into the revenue growth Netflix expects.