Netflix used its first UK Upfront to underline the scale of its advertising business, highlight the strength and breadth of its United Kingdom content slate, and unveil new advertising capabilities, including the rollout of Pause Ads to more markets. 

On advertising technology, President of Advertising Amy Reinhard (in the picture) said Netflix’s proposition combines content and technology to deliver messages “at the right time”. 

Netflix Ads Suite, launched in May 2025, has added data-collaboration tools, targeting and measurement solutions and new formats. 

Most notably, “Pause Ads will be available programmatically across partner DSPs from next month”, while demographic targeting will expand to include income and household composition. 

Netflix said its ad-supported plan will expand to nine more EMEA countries — Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Sweden and Switzerland — on March 1, 2027. 

However, Netflix doesn’t have any ad supported plans or subscriber tiers still in one of its largest markets in the world, India.

The company at the UK Upfront, meanwhile, also showcased brand integrations through its Brand Creative Studio, including ‘The Gentlemen’s Serve’, a multi-market campaign for Stella Artois built around ‘The Gentlemen’ Season 2, featuring Theo James and David Beckham. 

The company at the UK Upfront, held earlier in the week, said its ad-supported plan now reaches more than 14 million viewers in the UK, while its advertising business is expanding across EMEA with new targeting, measurement and brand-partnership tools. 

Ed Couchman, Netflix’s Head of Advertising UK  (in the picture), said the platform was no longer “the small challenger in this market anymore”, arguing that viewers had moved to Netflix and advertisers needed to follow. 

According to Barb or Broadcasters’ Audience Research Board, which measures television audiences in the UK, Netflix’s ad-supported plan reaches more than 14 million United Kingdom viewers, or nearly one in four people nationwide, with 86 percent paying attention when they sit down to watch Netflix. 

On content, Netflix VP Content UK Anne Mensah said Netflix’s UK offering had evolved from established titles such as ‘The Crown’ to more recent successes including ‘The Gentlemen’. 

She pointed to the range and variety of programming and Netflix’s roots in the UK creative industry, while citing Ofcom data that, this year, Netflix passed the BBC as the first choice for UK audiences deciding what to watch. 

The company also announced ‘Black Doves’ Season 2 will arrive on November 5, alongside a first look at its trailer, while Charlie Brooker’s ‘Blackmere’ is set for 2027. 

New commissions include scripted series ‘Witch Hunt’ and comedy entertainment show ‘Hot or Cold’. Netflix also confirmed the heavyweight TysonFury-Anthony Joshua showdown in Cardiff this December. 

Citing a forthcoming global study with System1, Netflix said nine in 10 of its UK brand-partnership ads ranked in the top one percent for long-term brand-building potential, while also scoring highly for short-term sales potential. 

The company said its partnerships were 10 times more likely than average to deliver on both objectives, with Global Brand Marketing and Partnerships chief Magno Herran summing up the pitch: “when you entertain our fans, you earn the right to sell to them.”