Netflix will add five new executives to advertising team as the streamer prepares to launch its ad-supported subscription tier on Nov. 3, a company spokesperson confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter.
Beginning on Nov. 14, the ad team — led by Jeremi Gorman, Netflix’s president of worldwide advertising — will include executives coming from Amazon, YouTube and TikTok, as well as additional poaches from Snap. Julie DeTraglia, most recently the global head of sports strategy and research at Amazon, will serve as vp ads measurement strategy.
At the senior director level, GroupM’s Adam Gerber — who has previously held executive roles at Essence and Disney/ABC Television Group — will join Netflix as senior director for client development. Julie Green, TikTok’s director of global business solutions, will become senior director for vertical sales, while Nicole Sabatini, the director of product marketing for YouTube’s ads marketing division, has been tapped as a senior director for ad partner solutions.
Rounding out the new hires is Chris Smutny, who will join his former Snap colleagues Gorman and Peter Naylor — who previously served as Snap’s chief business officer and vp sales, respectively — at Netflix as a senior director for sales operations.
Netflix is set to debut its ad-supported subscription tier in the U.S. on Thursday priced at $6.99 a month. The ads on this tier, which will be displayed in 15- to 30-second commercial spots, will total between four to five minutes of ads per hour. The viewing experience is expected to vary based on the title — new movies will only have preroll ads, according to Netflix COO Greg Peters — and the streamer will work with Nielsen in the U.S. and the nonprofit BARB in the U.K. to measure viewership data for advertisers.
