Netflix taps new VP of advertising as ad biz prepares for crucial 2025

Dive Brief:

Netflix has hired Nicolle Pangis as vice president of advertising, according to details shared with Marketing Dive. She will report to President of Advertising Amy Reinhard.
Previously CEO of TV ad sales company Ampersand, Pangis will leverage her industry relationships, operational background and data-driven approach as she oversees the platform’s U.S. and Canada advertising sales and account management team.
Pangis replaces Peter Naylor, who left Netflix in July. The move comes as the company evolves its ad strategy and seeks to reach critical scale for advertisers next year.

Dive Insight:

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 expects to reach critical scale for advertisers in countries with ad-supported plans in 2025. Netflix ad membership grew 34% quarter-over-quarter in Q3 2024 and now accounts for half of all sign ups in its ads markets.

Nicolle Pangis, Netflix — Netflix Vice President of Advertising Nicolle Pangis

Courtesy of Netflix

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

“Given the incredible fandom for their movies and TV shows, Netflix is best positioned to put brands at the center of the cultural zeitgeist,” she said in a statement. “They offer hugely impactful and relevant experiences for clients, and I can’t wait to get started.”

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

Netflix in Q3 2024 saw revenue grow 15% year over year but has yet to roll out exact figures around ad-supported subscribers and revenue. The company does not expect its ad business to be a primary driver of revenue growth in 2025 as it looks to balance scale and monetization, but closed its upfront marketplace at more than 150% above its 2023 total, with increases across all categories.

Pangis replaces previous VP 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.