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Netflix ruined its Apple TV app by switching to a custom video player

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Netflix has once again made a controversial change to its Apple TV app. In recent weeks, the company has stopped using the native tvOS 26 video player in favour of a custom player similar to the one it uses on other TV platforms.

In practice, this makes the most common interactions more cumbersome and blocks users from using platform-specific Apple TV features.

Netflix’s Apple TV app is now very bad

The change began rolling out a few weeks ago, and user frustration is mounting. On Reddit, there’s a growing thread of Netflix subscribers saying they are cancelling their subscription because of this change to the Apple TV app.

In a separate thread on Reddit, one user explains the cumbersome process of simply rewinding or fast-forwarding by 10 seconds:

Did Netflix mess up the app? There are two extra clicks for a simple 10s rewind or fast forward. Instead of it going back 10s in one click, now it pauses and brings up the frame selector, and then you have to click again. Did they not do any research or usability testing before releasing this?

The change also means you lose access to full playback controls using the Apple TV Remote app on your iPhone. You can’t enable Enhance Dialogue from the video player. That clever Apple TV feature that automatically enables subtitles when you rewind? Gone.

One of my most-used tvOS video player features is the ability to tap the Siri Remote to see when what I’m currently watching will end. It’s great for trying to decide whether you have time for one more episode before bed. That feature is gone in Netflix as part of this change.

FlatpanelsHD has a great roundup of all the features on Apple TV that rely on an app using the native video player.

Netflix hasn’t given any public indication of why it made this change. According to “sources within the company” cited by Vulture, Netflix’s motivation was consistency across platforms. Netflix largely uses a custom video player across all of its platforms, so the Apple TV was an exception until now.

My guess is that it has something to do with advertising, and Netflix thinks it can use its own video player for better or more “immersive” advertising opportunities.

Netflix’s switch to a custom video only further exacerbates the company’s poor support for Apple TV in general. The company, for example, does not integrate with Apple’s TV and therefore does not support system tvOS features like the universal “Up Next” queue. Its use of the native Apple TV video player was really its only redeeming quality on the platform.

The core functionality and controls that this change ruined aren’t minor. They aren’t things you’ll only notice occasionally. Netflix’s video player botches even the most basic of tasks, such as requiring multiple button presses to rewind if you happened to miss a piece of dialogue. Netflix has fundamentally made its experience worse, and you’ll notice every time you use the app.

The timing is also pretty poetic: Netflix started rolling out this change at almost the exact same time it announced yet another price increase.

Here’s John Gruber:

Switching to their own custom video player also broke Netflix’s integration with the iPhone. Until last week, playing video in the Netflix app on Apple TV would put a live activity widget on your iPhone lock screen with the name of the current program, scrub location, and player controls. Now that’s gone.

This regression dropping the same week that Netflix announced price hikes makes me so angry that I’m giving even more thought to downgrading my family’s Netflix account from the $27/month Premium plan to the $20/month Standard plan. Sending Netflix only $240 per year instead of $324 will show them.

I no longer subscribe to Netflix, except for the “Netflix on Us” ad-supported plan I get for “free” through T-Mobile. I find the service doesn’t have much content I want to watch, and changes like this mean I definitely don’t want to give the company $27 per month.

Hopefully, Netflix sees the growing frustration from users and walks back this change. I wouldn’t hold my breath, though.

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Chance is the editor-in-chief of 9to5Mac, overseeing the entire site’s operations. He also hosts the 9to5Mac Daily and 9to5Mac Happy Hour podcasts. You can send tips, questions, and typos to [email protected].

Sourced from 9TO5Mac

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Google’s latest Search ad updates signal growing shift away from keywords

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By Asa Hiken

AI Max advertisers can now instruct the system in natural language instead of having to rely on previously selected keywords. (Google)

New Search advertising updates from Google show how the tech giant is continuing to shift away from keywords and toward capturing intent through deploying the reasoning skills of AI. Advertisers using AI Max, its automated platform for optimizing search ad campaigns, can now instruct the system in natural language instead of having to rely on previously selected keywords, Google announced today.

The new feature, dubbed AI Brief, is meant to give advertisers better control over how AI Max optimizes their Search campaigns, in much the same way that conversational AI helps consumers express more specific search queries.

AI Brief is just the latest example of Google deprioritizing a keyword-centric approach to search advertising in favour of AI automation. Earlier this month, the tech giant announced that it was retiring Dynamic Search Ads (DSA), which are meant to extend keyword-based strategies, and moving all DSA-powered campaigns to AI Max. More broadly, Google operates Performance Max (PMax), a platform that uses Gemini to effectively run a campaign across all Google channels based on goals outlined by the advertiser.

The rise of AI search platforms has changed how consumers use the internet, namely, opting for longer, more complex search queries over relying on a few impactful keywords. In turn, this behaviour has spurred tech companies such as Google and Meta to create new ways for advertisers to target ads on their platforms. The solution has largely focused on using AI to sniff out the intent behind consumers’ queries.

This shift is why Google launched AI Max roughly one year ago. AI Max offers PMax-like automation, but for advertisers who only want to run Search ads. Using its skills in reasoning, AI Max is able to extend the performance of Search ads by matching advertisers’ desired keywords to a broader range of search queries. Even though these queries might not have contained a targeted keyword, AI Max can understand the intent behind the query, and if it matches that of the keyword, then it will show an ad. The system can also slightly adjust the ad copy based on the perceived intent.

AI Brief enables advertisers to seek the same results without having to use a list of rigid pre-selected keywords to direct AI Max. They can simply explain, in natural language, the search queries they want to capture and avoid, and their guidelines around ad copy. The hope is that doing so makes it easier for advertisers to express their goals.

As part of today’s updates, Google is also expanding AI Max to Shopping ads. The system will seek to match retailers’ ads to shoppers merely showing intent, without the need for them to provide specific product details. Google is making AI Max available for Search campaigns for Travel, too.

By Asa Hiken

Sourced from Ad Age

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If you’re an iPhone user, you could get $95 from this Apple settlement

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By Queenie Wong

Some iPhone users could be eligible to collect up to $95 per device as part of a settlement over allegations that Apple misled consumers about the abilities of its artificial intelligence-powered features.

This week, Apple said it reached a $250-million settlement to resolve class-action lawsuits filed against the Cupertino smartphone maker last year. The lawsuits alleged that Apple violated consumer protection laws by advertising that its iPhones included enhancements to its digital assistant Siri even though it didn’t exist yet. That allegedly enticed consumers to spend more to purchase the new devices.

Ryan Clarkson, founder and managing partner of Clarkson Law Firm, which represented consumers in the lawsuit, said they are “proud to secure a historic settlement on behalf of consumers who should feel confident and protected when deciding where to spend their hard-earned dollars.”

“We are at an inflection point with AI, and the choices companies and regulators make now will shape how this technology impacts everyday people,” he said in a statement.

Apple unveiled several AI tools, including an improved Siri assistant that was more conversational and capable, in 2024. The company touted how AI features will help people write, summarize messages, clean up photos and more.

As the race to advance AI heats up, some experts say that Apple has been lagging behind its rivals such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google Gemini. The settlement is the latest example of the hurdles Apple faces as it goes head-to-head with its competitors.

The settlement applies to U.S. iPhone users who bought an iPhone 16 and the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max between June 10, 2024, and March 29, 2025. Roughly 37 million devices purchased in the United States are eligible, according to a court filing.

A judge in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California still needs to approve the settlement.

Consumers will be notified via email or mail about submitting a form to collect the funds. They’ll be eligible for payments of $25 per device but that amount may decrease or increase to $95 per device depending on the amount of claims received and other factors, according to a court filing about the settlement.

Apple said in a statement that its release of what’s known as “Apple Intelligence” included a variety of AI-powered features such as live translation and writing tools.

“Apple has reached a settlement to resolve claims related to the availability of two additional features. We resolved this matter to stay focused on doing what we do best, delivering the most innovative products and services to our users,” a company spokesperson said in a statement.

Feature image credit: Ted Shaffrey / Associated Press

By Queenie Wong

Sourced from yahoo! finance

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

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No, it’s not your microphone — this is how advertisers know what you want

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By Kanika Gogia

Most folks have probably noticed that when they mention something out loud, like a holiday or a random gadget, its ads suddenly start appearing everywhere. It feels as if your phone is listening to you. However, there’s no strong evidence that your smartphone is secretly recording your conversations for advertising purposes. Now, you must be wondering if your phone isn’t listening, then how come these ads are so accurate every time? Well, that’s because advertisers don’t need your microphone to show up ads. They already have something more powerful: your data. That’s how advertisers always know exactly what you’re looking for.

Your search and browsing history tells a story

Every click and search builds your profile

lumepad 2 - browsing website

Every search you make, every website you visit, and how long you linger on a page builds a behavioural profile. That’s because of the embedded trackers in websites and emails. Advertisers and ad networks quietly track your actions, such as your search queries, how long you stay on a page, and even how you click or scroll. These actions build a detailed picture of your intent and interests. And advertisers analyse this data to predict what you’re likely to want next.

If you follow fitness-related content and read articles about running events, advertisers may see you as someone likely to purchase sports gear, even if you never searched for it directly. Modern advertising technology can connect patterns across your activity to anticipate your future behaviour, and that too, with surprising accuracy.

Even Incognito mode won’t help. Advertisers can still create a unique digital fingerprint based on your IP address and browser settings.

How apps collect data behind the scenes

A lot happens in the background

Most of the data for targeted ads is collected quietly in the background. This happens with the help of tools you’ve agreed to without thinking twice. When you download an app, it asks for your permissions, like location, contacts, storage, and more. These can reveal a lot about your daily life, so make sure to review your app permissions regularly. Websites also use cookies and trackers to get an idea of what you do online. That’s how you look at something at once and see related ads later. Apps also track what you click, how you scroll, and how long you stay on a page.

On top of that, your phone’s GPS and Wi-Fi data provide a digital footprint. When your phone regularly shares location data, it allows advertisers to show you ads based on where you are or what places you’ve visited. None of this data stays in a single app. Cross-app tracking tools and advertising IDs allow companies to track your activity across different apps and devices. This helps them build a single, growing profile that gets more detailed over time. That’s how you see ads on your phone for a product that you searched for on your laptop.

Social media knows more than you think

One of the biggest data collectors

Facebook home page on an Apple iPhone 14 Pro

Social media platforms can track your likes, shares, and comments; who you follow; who you interact with and how often; and what you pause on while scrolling. Every time you interact (even for a second) with Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok, you give a data point. They can track how long you look at a post, rewatch a reel, or share a post in a DM.

If you pause on multiple travel videos or like some baby product posts, it can reveal your interests. This is enough to trigger targeted ads. The algorithm may tag you as ‘interested in travel’ or ‘interested in baby products’, even if you’ve never searched for them. This goes even further. Platforms can guess things like your personality, interests, and even your mood, to target you more precisely. All of this is based on how to interact with social media content.

Your purchasing history and data brokers

The hidden network

data broker website search for gavin phillips.

We all have our shopping habits. For example, some of us might be into impulsive buying, while others stick to the same brand. We might feel these personal choices, but they are part of a much larger system. Behind the scenes, data brokers collect and sell information about you, including your purchase history, income estimates, your lifestyle, and general interests. This information is compiled from public records and commercial sources, such as your credit card purchases and loyalty card data.

Data brokers combine this information and create a detailed overview of your life. Then, they group you into categories like “budget shopper,” “frequent traveller,” or “likely a new parent.” After all, advertisers don’t need to know your name. Rather, they just need to know your type and interests. Once you’ve been grouped, you start to see ads that feel less random and more personal.

The power of predictive AI

When AI predicts what you want before you do

Google Ads screen open on a Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6Credit: Tashreef Shareef / MakeUseOf

This is where ads begin to feel as if they are in complete sync with your thoughts. Modern advertising uses sophisticated AI algorithms to predict what you might want next, and not just what you’ve searched for. They can guess what you might buy next and spot your needs even before you realize them. They also find patterns among millions of other users with similar interests and habits, like yours.

For instance, if a person with similar behaviour to yours often buys a certain product, you’re also likely to see ads for it, no matter if you’ve never looked for it. That’s why ads can feel as if they are always listening to your thoughts. In reality, they are predicting based on signals you don’t realize you’ve given them. With advanced AI, they are getting better at doing so.

How to improve your privacy

The harsh reality is that you might not be able to fully escape data collection. Fortunately, there are some ways to significantly reduce it. You can start by reviewing your app permissions. You should allow access to only what’s truly needed by a genuine app. Second, you can turn off personalized ads and delete your Advertising ID to reduce creepy targeted ads. The next thing you can do is clear or block cookies to maintain your online privacy. You can also switch to privacy-focused browsers. They block third-party trackers to prevent data collection.

I would also recommend taking a closer look at your social media settings. You must restrict data sharing and ad personalization. These are some effective ways to regain control and limit how much of your information is collected.

By Kanika Gogia

Kanika began writing about consumer technology in 2019 and has contributed to tech websites like Beebom and The Mac Observer. During her journey, she covered a wide range of topics, including Android, Windows, AI, and everything Apple. She has been a loyal iPhone user since 2014,

Sourced from MUO – Make Use Of

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A Jar of Nutella Went to Space. The Brand’s Response Is a Stellar Marketing Lesson

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BY ANNABEL BURBA

The company’s senior VP of spreads said the ‘phones lit up’ after Nutella appeared in the Orion capsule.

Nutella is giving “to the moon” a whole new meaning. Just before NASA’s Artemis II mission set the record for the farthest distance humans have ever travelled from Earth, its livestream showed a very recognizable jar of hazelnut spread floating around the Orion spacecraft.

“When the clip started circulating, our phones lit up,” Noah Szporn, senior vice president of spreads at Nutella parent company Ferrero North America, told AdAge via email. “Fans were emailing us, sliding into our DMs, and tagging us everywhere. It was impossible not to feel the joy of it.”

So Nutella jumped on the once-in-a-lifetime moment—which, according to Szporn, was not a paid product placement. The brand’s first move was to repost the livestream clip on X, TikTok, and Instagram superimposed with the words, “Nutella is out of this world.”

Then, it launched what seems to be a space-themed giveaway by posting a picture of a Nutella jar and asking customers to “Tell us the one thing you’d bring into the cosmos for a chance to have your name written in the stars (or on a custom Nutella jar).” The brand also changed its social media profile pictures to an image of a Nutella jar in front of the moon and added the phrase “Spreading smiles all the way to space” to its bios.

Feature image credit: Courtesy company; Getty Images

BY ANNABEL BURBA

Sourced from Inc.

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The Way People Shop Has Quietly Changed Forever — and Only Brands That Adapt Will Lead the Next Trillion-Dollar Market

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By Christopher Yang|edited by Maria Bailey

As millions of shoppers turn to AI agents before traditional retailers, brands that fail to become machine-readable risk losing the next trillion-dollar market shift.

Something subtle but significant happened last holiday season — and most brands missed it.

Before heading to Amazon or a retailer’s website, millions of consumers turned to tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini to research what to buy. It wasn’t a novelty. It was a behavioural shift — one that could redefine how commerce works over the next decade.

The data makes that clear. As many as 30% to 45% of U.S. consumers used AI during their holiday shopping journey. At the same time, Adobe reported a 1,200% year-over-year surge in traffic from generative AI tools to retail sites, making it one of the fastest-growing referral channels in e-commerce history — outpacing both mobile and social commerce in their early days.

This isn’t just about people using better tools. It signals something deeper: the role of the human shopper is beginning to compress.

From browsing to deciding

For years, e-commerce has revolved around discovery — getting consumers to browse, compare and ultimately convert. That model is starting to shift.

We are moving toward an economy of decision-making, where choices are made earlier and with far more guidance — increasingly by AI systems acting on the consumer’s behalf.

McKinsey estimates that “agentic commerce,” where AI agents can autonomously shop for consumers, could represent a $1 trillion-plus opportunity by 2030. That’s not a niche trend. It’s a structural transformation of how products are discovered, evaluated and purchased.

The new shelf space is algorithmic

For decades, brands have competed for attention — better ads, stronger branding, higher search rankings. Now the battleground is changing.

In an AI-mediated shopping experience, consumers may never see a traditional search results page. Instead, an AI system curates a shortlist of options. And in that moment, your brand story matters less than your data. What determines whether your product is selected isn’t your latest campaign — it’s how clearly and convincingly your product can be interpreted by an algorithm.

This is what “algorithmic preference” looks like: AI systems prioritizing products based on structured signals like price, specifications, availability, fulfilment speed and data quality. Early research on autonomous shopping agents shows that simply being ranked higher dramatically increases selection rates — often by multiples.

In other words, position is becoming a proxy for value. The brands that win in this environment won’t necessarily be the loudest. They’ll be the most legible to machines.

Your infrastructure wasn’t built for this

Here’s the uncomfortable reality: most e-commerce infrastructure today is designed for human eyes, not machine reasoning.

Websites are optimized for visual experience — rich imagery, layered navigation, promotional overlays. But to an AI agent, that same experience can look like friction. And unlike human shoppers, agents don’t tolerate friction. They don’t wait for pages to load or navigate confusing flows. They simply move on.

To compete, companies will need to rethink their foundations. That means investing in clean, structured product data that AI systems can process instantly, real-time inventory and pricing feeds, and emerging agent-friendly protocols that allow systems to discover and transact seamlessly.

The shift is similar to the early days of SEO. Brands that adapted quickly gained lasting advantages. The same dynamic is playing out again — only this time, the optimization target isn’t search engines. It’s large language models.

Trust becomes the last barrier

Technologically, fully autonomous shopping is already possible. AI can handle discovery, comparison, checkout and even fulfilment. But consumer behaviour hasn’t fully caught up.

Roughly half of consumers remain hesitant to let AI complete purchases on their behalf. While many are comfortable using AI for research, fewer are ready to hand over the final decision.

That hesitation points to the next competitive frontier: trust.

The platforms that succeed won’t just be the most capable — they’ll be the most transparent. Consumers want visibility into how decisions are made, the ability to set constraints and the option to intervene when needed.

As people grow more comfortable delegating smaller, repeat purchases — household goods, subscriptions, travel bookings — that trust will expand. But it will expand selectively, favouring brands that make control and clarity part of the experience.

The inflection point is here

AI-driven shopping is no longer experimental. It’s becoming standard behaviour.

That puts brands at a crossroads. Continue optimizing for human browsing habits, or start building for a world where machines play a central role in decision-making.

The companies that move early won’t necessarily be the biggest. They’ll be the ones that recognize a simple truth: the “customer” is no longer just a person scrolling a page. Increasingly, it’s a system making decisions before a human ever clicks.

That invisible customer is already shaping what gets seen, compared and purchased. The question isn’t whether this shift will happen. It’s whether your business will be ready when it does.

By Christopher Yang

Christopher Yang is co-president at SHOPLINE and a global tech leader with a track record of scaling consumer platforms across D2C markets. Formerly with AWAY and CTM, he also mentors startups, serves on boards like TCA Venture Group, and contributes to UCLA’s tech community.

Edited by Maria Bailey

Sourced from Entrepreneur

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Facebook’s Meta rebrand is looking stupider by the day

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The metaverse has Meta sorry end.

Five years ago, Facebook unveiled one of the most surprising rebrands of the decade. While the social media platform itself kept the Facebook name, the parents company, the one that also owns WhatsApp and Instagram, became Meta.

The whole thing coincided with Mark Zuckerberg declaring the metaverse “the successor to the mobile internet”, and pouring billions into the project. Zuckerberg’s vision has faced ridicule for years, but after recent developments, it’s now looking like one of the worst rebrands of all time.

Mark Zuckerberg's VR avatar

Facebook’s metaverse avatars were routinely mocked (Image credit: Meta)

As reported by CBNC, the company is shutting down its VR platform Horizon Worlds in a “further pivot away from the metaverse”. In a community blog, Meta announced that the Horizon Worlds app will be taken off the Quest store at the end of March, and fully removed from VR on June 15.

Back in January, as reported by Wall Street Journal, Meta laid off 10% of its Realty Labs division, representing around 1,500 jobs. Reality Labs is the home of Meta’s AR and VR divisions.

Zuckerberg’s vision for the Metaverse has already faced ridicule from a design perspective, with rudimentary graphics and missing legs. But the laying off of over 1,000 staff from the metaverse division is a much more stark and serious sign that Zuckerberg’s 2021 vision might not be the future.

The Meta logo

Facebook’s Meta rebrand suddenly doesn’t look so smart (Image credit: Meta)

“We said last month that we were shifting some of our investment from Metaverse toward Wearables,” a Meta spokesman told WSJ. “This is part of that effort.”

Screenshot of Facebook post by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg showign digital avatar in Horizon Worlds VR game

Zuckerberg once thought this was the future (Image credit: Meta/Mark Zuckerberg)

Meta might have perfectly valid reasons for shifting investment, but it can’t scrub its 2021 messaging from the history books. “The metaverse will eventually encompass work, entertainment, and everything in between,” the company announced when unveiling its rebrand. Back then, Meta announced $10B of investment into Reality Labs.

All of which is to say, with the benefit of hindsight, that rebrand isn’t looking so smart anymore. Still, to be fair, few knew in 2021 what the tech landscape would look like today – the likes of NFTs looked like they could change everything, along with the metaverse. But five years later, it looks like Facebook might have been better off changing its name to ‘AI’.

Feature image credit: Meta

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Daniel John is Design Editor at Creative Bloq. He reports on the worlds of design, branding and lifestyle tech, and has covered several industry events including Milan Design Week, OFFF Barcelona and Adobe Max in Los Angeles. He has interviewed leaders and designers at brands including Apple, Microsoft and Adobe. Daniel’s debut book of short stories and poems was published in 2018, and his comedy newsletter is a Substack Bestseller.

Sourced from CREATIVE BLOQ

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Lancôme ‘Accidentally’ Sent PR Packages to the Wrong People. It Was a Brilliant Marketing Move

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BY ANNABEL BURBA

If you got a package addressed to Demi Moore or Zoe Saldaña, would you open it?

Last week, more than 1,000 people received PR packages from Lancôme. Many were content creators who had received free products from the L’Oréal-owned beauty brand before. But something was different this time: the mailers were addressed to A-list actresses Demi Moore and Zoe Saldaña.

“I think this package was meant for someone else,” plastic surgeon and content creator Monica Kieu says in a TikTok. She explains the process of opening a package from Lancôme, reading a note addressed to someone named Zoe inside, and then checking the label and feeling surprised to see Saldaña’s name instead of her own.

“Zoe, if you’re missing a PR package, I might know where it is,” she says in the video. “Lancôme, I love you, I’m flattered—let me know what you want me to do with this package.”

The brand responded by commenting, “Oh no, we’ll have to look into this mix-up.”

When big names such as Kate Hudson, Pauline Chalamet, and Refinery29 chief content officer Brooke DeVard also posted content that showed themselves receiving packages addressed to Moore and Saldaña, it became clear that the mix-ups were an orchestrated marketing stunt to advertise Lancôme’s new skin care products. (Especially since they tagged these posts as paid partnerships.)

Moore and Saldaña then each shared videos saying that anyone who received a package with their name on it from the brand could keep it. “Finders keepers,” Moore quips in hers.

If Lancôme was aiming to go viral, it’s safe to say it achieved that goal. Hudson’s unboxing video got 2.1 million views on Instagram, while Chalamet’s got 56,000 and DeVard’s got 36,700.

Why Lancôme’s strategy worked

Celebrity and creator-founded brands such as Rhode and Reale Actives are dominating the beauty marketing space right now, making it difficult for legacy brands like Lancôme to stand out. The Paris-based label, which perfumer Armand Petitjean founded in 1935 and L’Oréal acquired in 1964, has long used Hollywood stars to market its products.

Lancôme’s new campaign puts a fresh twist on that strategy. Plus, it smartly uses the internet’s natural propensity for scandal to its advantage.

Feature image credit: Adobe Stock

BY ANNABEL BURBA

Sourced from Inc.

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Netflix flexes new capabilities as ad biz doubles geographic reach

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At its latest upfront presentation, the streamer unveiled new tools, capabilities and partnerships that span planning, buying and measuring outcomes of ad campaigns.

NEW YORK — At its latest upfront presentation, Netflix reminded advertisers what its combination of technology, entertainment and scale can provide to those looking to engage its attentive and growing audience. Executives on May 13 shared impressive statistics and unveiled new pilots and capabilities across programmatic, agentic AI and data-driven insights.

In between, there were appearances from stars including Florence Pugh and Millie Bobbie Brown and the usual dog and pony show theatrics — literally: The presentation featured three pups courtesy of the Westminster Kennel Club, which will broadcast its dog show on the platform in 2027.

“If the last couple of years were about proving we’re a durable player, this year is about establishing ourselves as a more formidable one,” said Amy Reinhard, Netflix’s president of advertising, during the presentation. “We’ve proven we’re effective. We’re expanding ads to more places, and we’re ready to compete with anyone.”

Netflix, which recently shifted to counting monthly active viewers, claimed it has 250 million monthly active viewers around the world. As that number grows, over 60% of sign-ups are choosing the company’s ad-supported plan, and nearly half of its members, 44%, who see an ad on Netflix never saw it on broadcast TV or other streamers, providing advertisers with unique audiences.

That audience is expected to grow in 2027 as Netflix expands its ads plans from its initial 12-country slate to 15 new countries: Austria, Belgium, Colombia, Denmark, Indonesia, Ireland, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Peru, the Philippines, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland and Thailand. The platform will also open new ad inventory across podcasts and vertical videos globally in 2027, along with expanding brand partnerships with its official fan site, Tudum.

As discussed on its recent earnings call, Netflix is turning to artificial intelligence and machine learning tools that it has used for decades to help build out its ad business. DoorDash, Target and TurboTax have recently tested AI-powered capabilities that look to better match advertiser creative with the platform’s content — a capability that will be brought to every ad-supported region by the end of 2026.

The company is also testing AI agents to manage, optimize and purchase ads, in addition to the AI-driven tools that it already offers around developing and optimizing media plans based on brand objectives. Additionally, AI is being used to adapt assets for different formats, like vertical video or pause ads, and the company is testing new personalized ad loads and frequency caps that are dynamically adjusted based on viewing behaviour.

“On top of new inventory, we’re also marrying art and science better than anyone else,” Reinhard said. “AI is already making advertising with Netflix easier and more efficient.”

Simplified campaigns, driving results

Netflix during the presentation unveiled new tools, capabilities and partnerships that span planning, buying and measuring outcomes of ad campaigns. The offerings are part of the Netflix Ads Suite, which was deployed to all its ad-supported territories in the fall. Along with tapping the cast of “Emily in Paris” to detail its full-funnel solutions, the presentation featured Nicolle Pangis, vice president of advertising at Netflix, who joined the company after a stint as CEO of the cable ad sales company Ampersand.

“I know the pressure on every dollar is higher than ever, and I also know that you’re looking for fewer, more strategic partners who provide high quality environments at the scale you need to streamline your buys and drive better results,” Pangis said during the presentation.

A new Audience Insights API helps advertisers learn about member characteristics and behaviours, while a Reach Curve API assists in forecasting campaign reach. The company has integrated with partners including Snowflake and Amazon Web Services around data clean rooms, and will add InfoSum as a partner by the end of the year. Netflix also works with Dentsu, Horizon, Omnicom, PMG and Tinuiti on solutions like planning APIs and clean rooms.

Additionally, Netflix is expanding programmatic capabilities to Live and Pause Ads using Dynamic Ad Insertion tech, allowing clients to buy through their preferred demand-side platform partners — first in the U.S. and Canada this summer before expanding more widely by the end of the year. The company will also enable programmatic audience targeting for all ad-supported countries on Amazon DSP by June 1 and Yahoo DSP in the months after, providing a timeline for previously announced partnerships.

While the battle over audience measurement continues, Netflix has joined the list of publishers working to prove outcomes, not just impressions. Campaigns on the streamer drive almost two-times the TV norm on long-term brand building, and perform 23% above benchmarks for purchase intent compared to competitors, per data shared by Netflix.

Dove, which partnered with the company around hit show “Bridgerton” for a campaign that spanned consumer products and custom spots, notched more than 1 billion impressions across seven markets and saw an almost 60% increase in new shoppers for products. Meanwhile, a partnership between Airbnb and “Nobody Wants This” around the booking platform’s experience offerings boosted awareness and purchase intent, delivered a return on ad spend more than double the industry benchmark and helped drive bookings.

“It’s no surprise that ads on Netflix drive greater attention, more brand awareness, higher engagement and more search and web visits, but they also drive higher sales, lift purchase intent and return on ad spend, compared to our competitors,” Pangis said.

Feature image credit: Dimitrios Kambouris / Staff via Getty Images

Amy Reinhard speaks onstage during the 2026 Netflix Upfront at Sunset Pier 94 Studios on May 13, 2026 in New York City.

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AI is changing the way customers shop. How should your brand respond?

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By Ollie Shelton

Reflecting on Black Friday and Cyber Monday figures, Ollie Shelton at Threepipe Reply surveys the new ecommerce landscape.

If 2023 was the year generative AI captured imaginations and 2024 was the year brands began experimenting with it, then 2025 was the year AI stopped being optional. It became the operational core of marketing.

This was the year that those championing agentic advertising moved from ‘early adopters’ to ‘early majority.’ And the data emerging from Black Friday and Cyber Monday (BFCM) 2025 confirms the shift: AI-powered discovery, comparison, and decision-making is already reshaping consumer behaviour at scale.

The clearest signal came not just from the numbers, but from how shoppers behaved. Across the US, online sales hit $44.2bn (up 7.7%) during the period between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday. In the UK, online spend reached £3.8bn (up 4.3%) from Black Friday to Cyber Monday

AI assistants influenced over $14bn in Black Friday sales globally and $9.8bn on Cyber Monday. Mobile also dominated, accounting for 55–70% of global online purchases, while TikTok Shop surged, with UK purchases up 28%, delivering up 50% year-over-year (yoy) during Cyber Week.

AI rules

Consumers didn’t just browse; they asked AI for the best price, fastest delivery, or highest-rated product. This is the behavioural shift that makes 2025 the year agentic advertising took hold.

Agentic AI moved marketing from prompt-based tasks to goal-based execution. This is no longer theoretical; it’s happening inside platforms and increasingly inside brands.

This year, we saw widespread adoption of systems that can: autonomously redistribute budget based on real-time signals; adjust creative and messaging in response to audience behaviour; run iterative testing without human touchpoints; and unify signals from search, retail media, social, and commerce.

At Threepipe Reply, we’ve already deployed intelligent frameworks that dynamically shift budget between Google, Meta, TikTok, and retail media depending on rising or falling demand signals.

BFCM 2025 was a preview of this future. The volatility of deals, competitor pricing, and stock levels meant brands with automated pipelines simply responded faster.

Intelligent efficiency

The efficiency mandate of recent years has recently collided with rising media costs and intense competition. But AI has turned efficiency from a constraint into an advantage, as demonstrated by the BFCM 2025 numbers.

US conversion rates improved even as average order volume fell due to rising prices. Global social media delivered 14% of all traffic to retailers, up 12% yoy. And UK mobile share grew 14% yoy, reflecting faster, more decisive consumer journeys.

Threepipe Reply is using agentic modelling to reduce wastage, sharpen investment, and allow media to self-optimize within guardrails. Human teams now focus on strategy, brand, and orchestration, not weekly bid adjustments.

With TikTok Shop surpassing $500m in US sales from Black Friday to Cyber Monday 2025, the importance of creative velocity and variation is clear. What wins today is content that’s iterative, behaviour-led, and supported by predictive signals. It must also be tailored to formats, creators, and communities.

Across beauty, retail, fashion, and sport, we’re already using creative intelligence tools to generate, test, and evolve content automatically.

This was the year creativity stopped being a static asset; 2026 will be the year that creativity becomes adaptive.

Everything, everywhere

We’re also seeing the end of channel silos. Consumers use search now to evaluate, social to validate, retail media to compare, and mobile to buy, often within minutes – and BFCM 2025 confirmed this.

Over 80% of US traffic spikes were driven by AI discovery and price comparison. Beauty, fitness, apparel, and tech dominated, fuelled by influencer and UGC loops. Social live commerce surged globally, pulling forward purchase intent.

Threepipe Reply’s intelligence mapping shows that cross-channel signals increasingly outweigh channel-specific insights. 2026 will push this further as measurement moves from channel attribution to journey-level orchestration.

The rise of AI-mediated shopping means that product comparison happens instantly; preferences are shaped before a website visit; baskets are built in the background; and search, social, and commerce merge into one intent layer.

This is why we’re investing heavily in AI shelf optimization, ensuring brands appear across LLMs, AI search, retail media, and social recommendations.

In 2026, the majority of product discovery will happen in environments brands can’t see directly, but only influence.

Fasten your seatbelts

Our view is clear: 2025 was the implementation year. Brands modernized systems, adopted agentic models, and deployed creative and media intelligence.

2026 will be the acceleration year. We expect to see: AI-native operating models; dynamic, adaptive brand worlds; predictive commerce ecosystems; and unified creative and media intelligence stacks. Along with safe and auditable AI governance frameworks, and hybrid human/AI workforces inside marketing teams.

The brands building this foundation now will be the category leaders in 2026.

By Ollie Shelton

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