Netflix hires Darshan Kantak to lead ads platform
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Netflix on Monday announced that former Google executive Darshan Kantak is joining the company as vice president of its ads platform.
Why it matters: Netflix needs to build advertising as subscriptions become more saturated in the U.S., but building a multi-billion dollar ads business requires a significant investment in technical infrastructure and talent.
- Last week, Netflix cut its ad forecast for the year from $3 billion to $2.7 billion, citing a delayed rollout of some of its ad product capabilities.
- The company parted ways with Jon Whitticom, its vice president of ad product, earlier this year.
Zoom in: Kantak will work alongside several senior leaders on Reinhard's team, including Nicolle Pangis, who leads Netflix's ad sales team as a vice president in North America.
- He will oversee all of Netflix's engineering, product, and data science for the company's global ads business, which includes building the reporting and operational tools for Netflix's Ads Suite.
- Netflix doesn't disclose staff details, but a source tells Axios there are hundreds of staffers that sit within the engineering side of its ads business alone.
- Kantak will report to the company's president of advertising Amy Reinhard.
State of play: Netflix launched its ads business four years ago, and has moved to build out its own ad tech stack and expand its business globally since.
- Today, its ads business remains tiny compared to streaming rivals like Disney, which have many years of experience building ad tech and selling streaming ads.
- But the business is growing quickly. Ad revenues were up 80% this year compared to last.
- Co-CEO Greg Peters told investors during the company's third quarter earnings report that "general demand remains strong, breadth of advertisers continues to expand, and ultimately, advertisers want our new products and features, and that's a big mechanism of growth for us."
What we're watching: The company said it hopes to expanding its advertising tier to 15 new countries in 2027.
