Netflix co-CEO Greg Peters admitted that Netflix’s advertising business is behind on its ambitious growth target for the end of year.
“Our ads business has delivered really impressive growth since we’ve launched, and we do see a long road of continued growth ahead of us,” Peters said during the streamer’s third quarter earnings call Tuesday.
“We set big growth targets for our ads business this year. We established an aggressive product roadmap that was consistent with that strategy,” the co-CEO of Netflix added. “But we are currently a bit behind our aggressive target for the year.”
He added that he does not see the stall impacting the company’s long-term gains.
“We strongly believe that a modest short-term hit for a better long-term strategic position is a good ultimate trade-off,” he said.
Netflix has closed its 2026 upfront negotiations, nearly doubling its ad commitments, in line with expectations.
The streamer declined to provide specific figures, but cited advertiser interest in returning series such as “Love Is Blind,” “Big Mistakes,” “Bridgerton,” “Emily in Paris,” “Nobody Wants This” and “Running Point,” as well as upcoming feature films like “Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew.”
Peters clarified that they are growing their ads business by over 80% this year. In May, Netflix revealed that its ad tier has surpassed 250 million monthly active viewers, with over 80% of ad plan members actively watching each week. He said that it is natural that if a company is “sufficiently aggressive” with its growth you may occasionally be behind on some milestones.
He noted that the priorities for the streamer’s ad strategy have not changed, specifically noting that consumers and advertising are interested in a breadth of ad tiers.
Peters also noted that as consumers switch to an ad tier, driving demand, they are able to add more features to support the advertisements as well as making it easier for companies to transact with the company.
The company touted demand for advertisers on its sports and live events, including NFL, WWE and MLB content. It added that there was “extremely high” upfront demand for the 2027 FIFA Women’s Wold Cup, with game sponsorships sold out and nearly all available in-game inventory sold out.
Netflix met Wall Street expectations for its third quarter earnings, posting a revenue of $12.87 billion. The earnings call came after a massive round of layoffs, cutting headcount by about 6%, roughly 1,000 employees.
