Netflix
Netflix has hired Microsoft to provide the advertising technology for the expected level of advertising support for the streaming service, the companies announced Wednesday. Comcast’s NBCUniversal subsidiary and Google were the “main competitors” for posting ads on Netflix before Microsoft won the contract.
Microsoft will be the “global sales and advertising technology partner” for the “new subscription plan with lower-priced advertising,” Netflix said Wednesday.
“Microsoft has the proven ability to support all of our advertising needs as we work together to create a new ad-supported offering,” Netflix said. “More importantly, Microsoft offered the flexibility to innovate over time in terms of both technology and sales, as well as strong privacy protections for our members.” The broadcast ad subscription will be offered “in addition to our basic, standard and premium plans with no existing ads,” Netflix said.
Netflix also said it’s still “very early and we have a lot to work on” before launching the level with ad support, though the company recently told employees it plans to release it later this year. The announcement plan was announced in April by CEO Reed Hastings amid slowing revenue growth and lost subscribers.
Netflix has not said how much it will charge for the level of advertising. Netflix prices in the U.S. currently range from $ 9.99 to $ 19.99 a month. Announcements
Microsoft’s purchase of the AT&T division helped it reach an agreement
Microsoft issued its own press release saying, “All ads posted on Netflix will be available exclusively through the Microsoft platform.” Microsoft said the choice of Netflix “endorses Microsoft’s approach to privacy, which is based on protecting customer information.”
Microsoft has been running ads on the search engine Bing and its predecessors for many years, but its ability to get the Netflix contract was due to the purchase of AT&T’s Xandr programmatic advertising system. “It was the purchase of Xandr that gave Microsoft the technology to become a contender in the high-profile race to win the Netflix partnership,” said people familiar with the matter, “he wrote. The Wall Street Journal.
The choice of Microsoft “was a surprise to some executives in the advertising industry because Microsoft is not as well known for its video advertising capabilities as other companies,” the WSJ wrote.