The Microsoft & Netflix Partnership: A New Advertising Dream Team?

In 2022, Netflix announced an advertising and sales partnership with Microsoft following the introduction of their new tiered subscription plan.

At the time, Netflix said, “Microsoft has the proven ability to support all our advertising needs as we work together to build a new ad-supported offering. More importantly, Microsoft offered the flexibility to innovate over time on both the technology and sales side, as well as strong privacy protections for our members”.

The partnership is, clearly, a very big deal for advertisers and marketers. It’s currently rolled out in the US, but we’re hopeful we’ll see the partnership rolled out in the UK in early or mid-2024.

Keen to know more about the partnership? Let’s dive in.

What is the Microsoft/Netflix partnership?

As mentioned above, Netflix, one of the biggest streaming services across the world, has partnered with Microsoft to support their advertising efforts and technology and sales innovations. What this essentially means for advertisers and marketers is any ads you’re running on Microsoft can, theoretically, be run on Netflix too.

Whilst most advertisers and marketers will be experienced in buying advertising space on terrestrial channels like Channel Four and ITV, Microsoft and Netflix are changing the game by turning TV advertisement “digital”.

Netflix had already started showing ads on its lower-tier subscription plans prior to partnering with Microsoft. However, through the new partnership, any ads purchased on the aforementioned platform can also be shown on Netflix. Microsoft already has partnerships with the likes of Sky and Discovery+ on its platform, which are readily available for advertisers and marketers to use in the UK, and they are potentially looking to add more popular streaming services in the near future (so watch this space). But, once Netflix arrives on the scene, we believe this will open up lots of opportunities and global audience reach for businesses looking to explore video advertisement.

How will marketers target adverts and measure performance?

As we know, marketers and advertisers will be able to control their adverts conveniently through the Microsoft platform. We’re not 100% sure what analytics will be available, but we believe there will be some decent statistics on performance. In terms of targeting capabilities, advertisers will be able to target demographic, location, and genres, as well as remarketing and customer match.

Everything that you can use for conventional search ads, Microsoft will replicate on the platform. So, there will be opportunities to tailor your advertising to appeal to the market you want to reach in the same way that if you wanted to advertise on terrestrial TV, you’d probably choose the right time slot to get the best impact.

Overall, it’s a great opportunity for businesses with video content to advertise on one platform, without having to have another partner in the mix which can, ultimately, cause confusion and make processes more complex. Everything can be done through Microsoft, with advertisers potentially reaching new audiences, on a global scale, on a very popular platform. What’s not to love about this partnership?

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