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Advertising AI

Netflix Will Show Generative AI Ads Midway Through Streams In 2026 (arstechnica.com) 62

Posted by BeauHD from the what-to-expect dept.
At its second annual Upfront 2025 event yesterday, Netflix announced that it has created interactive mid-roll ads and pause ads that incorporate generative AI. These new ad formats are expected to roll out in 2026. Ars Technica reports: "[Netflix] members pay as much attention to midroll ads as they do to the shows and movies themselves," Amy Reinhard, president of advertising at Netflix, said. Netflix started testing pause ads in July 2024, per The Verge. Speaking to advertisers, Reinhard claimed that ad subscribers spend 41 hours per month on Netflix on average. The new ad formats follow Netflix's launch of its own in-house advertising platform in the US in April. It had previously debuted the platform in Canada and plans to expand it globally by June, per The Verge.

Netflix considers its advertising business to be in its early stages, meaning customers can expect the firm's ad efforts to continue expanding at a faster rate over the coming years. The company plans to double its advertising revenue in 2025. "The foundations of our ads business are in place, and going forward, the pace of progress will be even faster," Reinhard said today. Further reading: Netflix Says Its Ad Tier Now Has 94 Million Monthly Active Users
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Netflix Will Show Generative AI Ads Midway Through Streams In 2026 More

Netflix Will Show Generative AI Ads Midway Through Streams In 2026

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  • What's next? (Score:3)

    by viperidaenz ( 2515578 ) on Thursday May 15, 2025 @06:46PM (#65379609)

    Another payment tier?
    Ad supported | No Ads
    Ad supported | No midstream ads | No Ads

    Insert tier in the middle, bump up top tier price.

    • will the ad tier get 4K?

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by iNaya ( 1049686 )
        Hardly anything on Netflix is in 4k anyway

        • I believe most of their own stuff is 4k, but most of their leased content is not. So, if you subscribe to Netflix for the exclusives, the 4k tier might make sense, but if you're expecting a 4k experience on every movie to hit Netflix, you will be sorely disappointed.

          Personally for me, most third party movies that would benefit from 4k I've already seen on Fandango by the time it hits Netflix.

      • The ads will be 4k

    • Re: What's next? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by SafeMode ( 11547 ) on Thursday May 15, 2025 @07:09PM (#65379681) Homepage

      Piracy

      • Piracy

        Sadly, the public tracker scene is looking rather grim lately. I honestly can't name anything off the top of my head other than the Bay, and it's always been a bit of a mess if you're looking for high quality copies of TV series.

        Even the old standby of Redbox & Rip has gone the way of the dodo.

        I guess the majority really is perfectly content to watch "Stranger Things - Damn These Kids Got Old" for $8 a month, with AI generated ads popping up every so often reminding you that dish detergent tastes great

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by mjwx ( 966435 )

        Piracy

        I, for a long time, was reluctant to pirate Netflix shows because they used to be the good guys. Even after I cancelled my subscription because they started enforcing geo-blocking.... However it seems that was all a ruse and after Scoob and Shaggy pulled off the mask they were the same bad guys all along.

        So yarrr, raise the Jolly Roger lads, it's plundering time.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by ahodgson ( 74077 )

      The top tier price is free; arrrrr me mateys.

      These morons have forgotten why streaming became popular in the first place.

  • Enshittification progresses (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Baron_Yam ( 643147 ) on Thursday May 15, 2025 @06:48PM (#65379621)

    I'd say more, but... I think I got it all in the subject line.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by ukoda ( 537183 )
      Just what I was going to say.

      When someone can say with a straight face "[Netflix] members pay as much attention to midroll ads as they do to the shows and movies themselves," you know that enshittification will follow.

    • Indeed.

      Glad I dropped those turds. Most of the new shows were crap anyway.

      • Glad I dropped those turds.

        I was a non-stop Netflix subscriber for 14 years, even for years when they had nothing I cared to watch, because they were providing a useful service. There came a point where they raised prices one time too many, and I canceled. They have now become the bad guys they once replaced. They can die today, and nothing of value will be lost.

        It's ironic that their DVD service is now more valuable to me than their streaming service, but they killed the DVD service. If it still existed, it would be the only reason

  • -when the profits stop increasing, until then suffer, sufferrrr!

  • Back to torrents (Score:5, Insightful)

    by GeekWithAKnife ( 2717871 ) on Thursday May 15, 2025 @06:58PM (#65379639)
    I subscribe to a lot of stuff. Disney+, Netflix, AppleTV etc Since Prime decided to shove ads in my face I decided to remove prime. If there's content I care for that only prime has I'll find another way to see it. If Netflix want to shove ads in my face I'll do the same. Enshitification will not be tolerated. Cancel services that forget getting your money is a privilege. This isn't an essential service. You'll be fine without it.

    • So don't subscribe? What's wrong with a closet full of Blurays and a good OTA HD setup? With optional recorder.

      • With optional recorder.

        True, there's nothing like a shrill rendition of "When the Saints Go Marching In" to take your mind off a lack of Netflix.

        • To hear that properly, it must be played on kazoos by a juvenile jazz band, such as the Pelaw Hussars in Get Carter (1971). True audiophiles listen to it naked with a loaded shotgun.

      • "What's wrong with a closet full of Blurays"

        The lack of any closet space. And the lack of places to buy Blu-ray discs locally. And the annoyance of digging through a physical library for stuff. And the cost of Blu-rays compared to VOD rental. And the limited content that's available on Blu-ray.

        • The lack of any closet space. And the lack of places to buy Blu-ray discs locally. And the annoyance of digging through a physical library for stuff. And the cost of Blu-rays compared to VOD rental. And the limited content that's available on Blu-ray.

          Man, whoever came up with the saying "you'll own nothing and be happy" fucking nailed it.

    • Agreed. If there is no reasonably priced ad-free tier then I’m gone and torrent the rare show that’s watchable.
  • "and going forward, the pace of progress will be even faster," Reinhard said today" Progress?

  • I would cancel it over this

    And I'm not going to torrent crap, either. Every unique presentation from Netflix should be shunned. In fact, it would be a good idea to refuse to watch anything produced by any actor or comedian that voluntarily associates with Netflix.

    • Ok buddy.
      What about directors, producers, writers, production companies, distributors, the list goes on.
      That's going to leave approximately nothing left.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by sosume ( 680416 )

      They make you pay a premium to watch gender-bending content. Now with AI generated ads in between!

  • When it became clear that streaming services were Cable 2: the rest of the first, I decided what they were worth to me. I index it to my other escapist entertainment - reading. Even though I buy most books used, I called it $10/book, and for fiction I generally consume one in three or so hours, so Netflix is worth $3.33/hr. I usually only watched a couple shows a month, so the cost was more like $8/hr.

    Do not miss it.

    And something I only realized after I stopped watching them was that it annoyed me how f

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by ukoda ( 537183 )

      I index it to my other escapist entertainment - reading.

      Yea, books are good and I really like ebooks for a number of reasons. The problem was they were only sold for a short time before enshittification took them off the market to be replaced with DRM ebooks, or what I call rental books. So I stopped buying ebooks and went back to physical books, which I buy far less often that I did ebooks.

      It's the same old story with greed, they start asking too much and get nothing instead. They still haven't worked out you make more money by offering customers what the

    • Honestly, I think the right move isn't to drop Netflix, but to drop everything else. Netflix got there first, they deserve to be the single platform where all content is released.

      If no one had subscribed to Disney+, all the Marvel movies would be on Netflix.

      • Re: Dropped them several price bumps ago (Score:5, Insightful)

        by Powercntrl ( 458442 ) on Thursday May 15, 2025 @08:09PM (#65379813) Homepage

        And you think Netflix is expensive now, just imagine what they'd be like as a monopoly having to license every studio's content. Oh wait, we don't have to. What does a cable subscription cost these days, like $100/mo?

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by abulafia ( 7826 )
        Tell that to Lotus-1-2-3 or Netscape.

        Not sure why you think 'getting there first' makes anyone deserving of anything outside of marathons.

      • Honestly, I think the right move isn't to drop Netflix, but to drop everything else. Netflix got there first, they deserve to be the single platform where all content is released.

        If no one had subscribed to Disney+, all the Marvel movies would be on Netflix.

        Do not reward a corporation for trying to scrape everything they can from your wallet while shoving ads in your face. They only react to one thing: loss of profits. Continuing to pay Netflix will only make them think they are on the right track with their behavior today. It doesn't particularly matter if they were first. If they are behaving in a way you dislike, cease paying them. It's literally your only voice against these behemoths. Use it.

  • Potential for brilliant (but probably not) (Score:3)

    by mhkohne ( 3854 ) on Thursday May 15, 2025 @07:11PM (#65379685) Homepage

    If they were smart, and realized the AI thing is utter crap, this would be a minimal-effort smokescreen in order to try to get a stock price bump because they are 'doing AI'. Given the timeline, it's likely that the AI bubble will pop first, and they can quietly drop the whole mess down the shitter while no one is paying much attention.

    Sadly, it's probably not that, they probably are planning to do it, and it'll be crap.

    • In the scheme of things, creating commercials is an excellent use of generative models. Because of the large amount of messaging oversight in commercial content, problematic hallucinations will be caught early. And generative models shine when they are used to generate low value content, like commercial video.

  • If ads started disturbing me when i put it on pause, I'm just going to turn it off and find something else to watch.

    I put it on pause because I want it to SHUT THE FUCK UP while I'm doing something else!

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by iNaya ( 1049686 )
      You can just close the tab after pausing. Re-opening the tab should start the video again where you paused it.

    • Yep, they've managed to enshittify the pause button. The Amazon Fire Stick does this. There's a workaround using "Wake Lock" (which despite the name, has nothing to do with the "woke" content some people incessantly moan about), preventing the screensaver (which is actually just ads, how insidious) from activating.

      Of course, unless you hack the damn thing, it's a manual process that has to be repeated anytime the device has rebooted.

  • Never had Netflix, never will.

  • Just sigh.

  • Surfing pirate bay!

  • AI generated ads are already out there (Score:3)

    by Powercntrl ( 458442 ) on Thursday May 15, 2025 @08:18PM (#65379827) Homepage

    I've been getting this really creepy fever dream AI ad on Facebook for car seat covers. At least, I assume they're car seat covers. It could actually be an add for trippy edibles that make you think you're a German Shepherd romping through the mud, while someone pours a bucket of muddy water onto some car seats that are just sort of floating in space, and the seats end up clean.

    What’s even worse is that these ads often don’t care whether you understand the product, just that they get noticed for provoking a visceral reaction. Confusion? Dread? An inexplicable urge to hose off your car upholstery? Mission accomplished. It's like they learned from all the stupid TikTok videos that any viewer engagement is good engagement.

  • And I'll either block them or switch to pirating. I don't give a flying fuck about your extra shitty ads, Amy. Maybe stop wasting money on a bunch of shitty shows. There is like 1 decent Netflix exclusive for every 10 shitty ones, and that's probably being generous. They don't need huge budgets. Your executives are retarded.

  • Like, I'm already thinking of dropping it 'cos it's just getting more expensive. It started at â8.99/mo so has already almost doubled in price.

    If I get a single ad, I'm definitely gone. I don't care if I'm in the middle of the best show ever made, they'll never get another cent from me.

  • As Will Smith eating spaghetti

  • If I pause a movie it is to read a subtitle or see a background detail. Having an ad at that point is just an unacceptable degradation of the experience.
    Having it be generated AI content means it will be worse uncanny garbage and cheapens it even more.
    Voting with my wallet.

  • ...will be using AI to somehow insert ad content *into* the movie itself. Michael Corleone will sip on a Starbucks latte as he sits there talking to Fredo.

    There's a scene in one of William Gibson's novels where an older character is talking to a younger character, and he mentions "commercials", and the younger character doesn't know what a "commercial" is. The implication is that advertising has become so ubiquitous and pervasive, there's no distinction any more between "advertising" and "content".

  • "[Netflix] members pay as much attention to midroll ads as they do to the shows and movies themselves," Amy Reinhard, president of advertising at Netflix, said.

    where?! At least not in the linked article.

    I think it's rather amusing how the whole ad industry is such a deluisional circle jerk....
  • I'll subscribe like a good little consumer.

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