Netflix has tapped a pair of former Snapchat executives to lead its new ad venture.
The streamer hired Snap’s chief business officer Jeremi Gorman and VP of sales Peter Naylor to oversee global advertising, a spokesperson confirmed to TheWrap. Both will start in September.
Gorman has been with Snap since 2018, while Naylor joined the company two years ago after helping Hulu expand its robust ad-based subscription tiers.
Naylor gave a nod to his new gig with a timely tweet in reference to Netflix’s trademark intro sound effect.
Both executives are poised to provide a foundation for Netflix to begin building relationships with brand advertisers to support its AVOD tiers, which are expected to launch early next year.
Netflix recently aligned in a partnership with Microsoft on their AVOD plans, which is an unexpected pairing that looks to be a strategic decision on Netflix’s part to forgo higher revenue in order to maximize new areas of business and, crucially, protect its data.
So far, no specifics have been given in terms of pricing or whether there would be multiple tiers offered for the ad-based plans.
The executives’ hiring comes after news that Snap will lay off 20% of its workforce starting Wednesday, a staffing reduction The Verge reported has been in the works for weeks.