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.”
“This Upfront proved that advertisers are more excited than ever to work with Netflix, where they can access the most engaged audiences, with an ad tech platform built to drive results, all centered around series and films that never disappoint,” Netflix Advertising President Amy Reinhard said in a statement.
The company also touted demand for sports and live events like its 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.
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.
A monthly active viewer is defined as members who have watched at least one minute of ad-supported content on Netflix per month, multiplied by the estimated average number of people within a household, which the company gets from first-party research. It includes members who have watched live titles, such as WWE.
The metric is a switch from its previous monthly active users figure, which was based on the amount of profiles watching ads.
The closing of its upfront negotiations comes as pause ads are now available to buy programmatically across all Demand Side Platforms (DSPs), including Google Display & Video 360, Amazon, Yahoo and The Trade Desk.
Netflix also launched an AI-powered tool to generate pause ad formats from existing assets and expanded its interactive ad formats, including “Send to Phone” and Frame Ads, giving advertising partners a new single-canvas placement across their interactive ad to deepen engagement.
Additionally, the streamer’s Ads Suite received its first accreditation from the Media Rating Council and was awarded accreditation across the processing and reporting of U.S. in-stream video impressions amongst connected TV, mobile app and desktop web. It will also launch international upfront events in Mexico City, São Paulo, Tokyo, London and Paris.
In addition to Netflix, Disney closed its upfront negotiations with volume commitments up double-digits year over year and sports volume up in the low-teens versus last year.
It also sold out ad inventory for Super Bowl LXI, drawing 58 brands across 34 distinct categories, with nine of those brands advertising in the Super Bowl for the first time.
Meanwhile, Fox saw high-single-digit volume growth across its streaming and linear portfolio.
When looking at specific properties, Tubi scored double-digit volume growth and Fox News brought in double-digit volume growth and mid-single-digit pricing growth. Fox Sports also saw record volume with pricing up mid-single to low-double digits, while entertainment pricing increased by mid-single-digits and volume was in line with the prior year.
The post Netflix Closes 2026 Upfront, Nearly Doubles Ad Commitments appeared first on TheWrap.
