Netflix Reaches 190 Million Monthly Ad Viewers as Company Shifts to People-Based Measurement

Netflix announced on Wednesday that its advertisements have reached more than 190 million monthly active viewers (MAVs) globally, as the streaming platform introduces a new metric to measure advertising reach based on individual viewers rather than accounts.

The company has been diversifying its business model by expanding into advertising and video games, though these areas have contributed minimally to revenue thus far, according to industry analysts and investors.

Netflix defines MAV as users who have watched at least one minute of ad-supported content multiplied by the average household size, based on the company's internal research. This new measurement approach aims to provide a "more comprehensive count of how many people" are actually consuming content on the platform.

As Netflix ventures into live-streaming, it has been testing dynamic ad insertion (DAI) technology with WWE Raw and SmackDown during the latest quarter. The company plans to implement this technology across the United States, Brazil, Canada, Germany, Mexico and the United Kingdom for the upcoming NFL Christmas Gameday broadcast.

DAI technology enables Netflix to deliver personalized advertisements to each viewer in real time during live streams. The company intends to expand this capability across more live programming in 2026.

During the most recent earnings call, Co-CEO Greg Peters reported that Netflix achieved its strongest quarter ever for advertising sales in Q3, adding that the company is on track to more than double its advertising revenue this year. While Peters acknowledged that advertising revenue remains small compared to subscription income, he emphasized that Netflix has "established the fundamentals" of the advertising business and sees significant growth potential.

Netflix's in-house advertising platform, Netflix Ads Suite, launched in the United States and Canada in May and has subsequently expanded to all twelve countries where the company offers ad-supported subscription tiers.