Netflix Debuts Ad Metric Showing 190 Million ‘Monthly Active Viewers’

• Amy Reinhard, Netflix’s president of advertising, said the new metric will not change how Netflix sells its ads.
• She stated that the new metric is meant to be clearer, more transparent, and more accurate.
• In October, Netflix reported its “best ad sales quarter ever,” stating that it had more than doubled upfront commitments for 2025.

Netflix (NFLX) announced on Wednesday that it’s rolling out a new advertising metric called monthly active viewers (MAV), which it says will more accurately represent the reach of its ad-supported tier.

Netflix’s stock edged 0.5% higher in midday trade with retail sentiment on Stocktwits rising to ‘extremely bullish’ from ‘bullish’ territory over the past day, while chatter remained at ‘high’ levels.

New Metric Won’t Change Sales Strategy

Amy Reinhard, Netflix’s president of advertising, wrote that the company now counts 190 million monthly active viewers across the 12 countries where the ad tier is available. She said the goal of the new metric is to give advertisers a “clear and transparent” view of how many people are watching commercials on the platform.

Reinhard said the MAV metric won’t change how Netflix sells ads, but is designed to provide more accurate data about user engagement.

In its third quarter (Q3) results in October, Netflix reported its “best ad sales quarter ever,” stating that it had more than doubled upfront commitments for 2025. The company expects ad revenue to double next year, though it noted in its shareholder letter that growth is coming from a relatively small base.

What’s new?

The new measure differs from the commonly used monthly active users (MAU), which tracks the number of member profiles that interact with Netflix on a monthly basis. MAV instead multiplies the number of ad-supported viewers who watched at least one minute of content by the average household size determined through internal research.

“Our previous measurement (which was based on account profiles) didn’t represent all of the engaged people who are in the room watching.”

– Amy Reinhard, President of Advertising, Netflix

The one-minute threshold echoes an earlier measurement system Netflix used for counting views of its shows. At the time, two minutes of watch time qualified as a “view,” before the company shifted to tracking total viewing hours divided by program length.

Reinhard told The Hollywood Reporter that the company debated the definition of a “viewer” before settling on a one-minute threshold. “Some had a zero-second threshold, some had a 10-second threshold,” she said. “We felt one minute shows commitment to a viewing session and provides a more accurate representation.”

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