Netflix and The Trade Desk said on October 20, 2026 that advertisers buying Netflix through Kokai, The Trade Desk's buying platform, will be able to target audiences with third-party data and their own first-party lists starting in November. The same day, Netflix published a wider update to its Netflix Ads Suite: a new Netflix Pixel, an expanded Conversion API that takes more than 20 lower-funnel conversion events, in-DSP measurement in Yahoo DSP, and a list of 11 countries that get the ad plan in March 2027.

In Short

Starting in November, companies that buy Netflix ads through The Trade Desk can choose who sees them using customer lists they own or data bought from The Trade Desk's marketplace of more than 300 data suppliers. That matters because until now advertisers could only aim Netflix ads on The Trade Desk with the targeting Netflix itself offered, while Amazon and Yahoo buyers already had their own audience data. Netflix also built a tracking pixel so advertisers can feed back sign-ups and sales, though the promised Trade Desk measurement tools still have no launch date.

Two posts, one date

The news arrived in two documents published on October 20, 2026. The first is a post on Netflix's corporate newsroom, "Netflix Ads Suite Has Better Buying, Better Planning, Better Results," written by Nicolle Pangis, Vice President, UCAN Advertising, and tagged for the United States and Canada. The second is a shorter post on The Trade Desk's website titled "Netflix Unlocking New Targeting and Measurement Capabilities with The Trade Desk," whose "Read more" link points back to the Netflix post.

Both posts were published on the same day Netflix released its third-quarter shareholder letter. That letter lowered Netflix's 2026 advertising revenue expectation to about $2.7 billion from roughly $3 billion, which the company attributed to a slower rollout of ad products and partner integrations. The Trade Desk change is one of those integrations, and its start date is November.

Pangis opens with a line that frames the whole update. "Netflix Ads keeps growing, and our approach hasn't changed: we're building with our advertising partners, not around them," according to the Netflix post. She then describes the changes as tools that work "all within the tools our clients already use."

What changes in Kokai

According to The Trade Desk, "Starting in November, advertisers can use both first- and third-party data to target audiences on Netflix through Kokai." Netflix's post gives the same timing in relative terms. "Starting next month, advertisers can activate any third-party data partner or leverage their own first-party audiences with The Trade Desk audiences now available across ads on Netflix," according to Netflix.

The Trade Desk breaks the change into two parts.

Third-party segments

The first is access to The Trade Desk's data marketplace for Netflix buys. According to The Trade Desk, advertisers "can activate audiences from our premium data marketplace with more than 4 million segments from over 300 providers across commerce, behavioral, demographic, and geographic data." The company describes the outcome as "rich scale and relevance when reaching a buyer's ideal audience on Netflix inventory."

Those numbers describe the size of the whole marketplace, not the share that will be usable on Netflix or the number of segments with enough matched households on Netflix to deliver at scale. Neither post says whether Netflix will restrict any categories of third-party data, how matching against Netflix's member base works, or whether data fees on Netflix buys differ from those on other inventory.

The figures are also far larger than the ones The Trade Desk used a year ago. When it overhauled its data marketplace with AI scoring in September 2025, PPC Land reported the platform as giving access to hundreds of thousands of marketplace and custom segments from hundreds of providers. The October 2026 post does not explain how the count reached 4 million, and segment counts depend heavily on how a platform defines a single segment.

First-party audiences

The second part is the ability to bring an advertiser's own data. "Advertisers can onboard first-party audiences to enable granular targeting against existing customer and owned and operated data," according to The Trade Desk. In practice, this means a brand could target or exclude its existing customers on Netflix with the same lists it already uses in its other Kokai campaigns.

The Trade Desk sums up the two options in one sentence. "Advertisers can choose how they onboard and create audiences, from first-party data to our marketplace of third-party segments, to reach the people who matter most to their brand on Netflix," according to The Trade Desk. The post adds that this means advertisers can "carry omnichannel targeting strategies into Netflix buys, and measure the impact."

That last clause is ahead of the product. Both posts describe Trade Desk measurement on Netflix as future work.

Measurement: live in Yahoo DSP, pending in The Trade Desk

Netflix's post separates the two DSPs clearly. "Yahoo DSP advertisers can now measure single publisher attribution across their programmatic Netflix buys, and we have in-DSP measurement coming soon with The Trade Desk across reach and frequency and attribution," according to Netflix. The Trade Desk's post uses the same phrase, "in-DSP measurement coming soon," and gives no date either.

The distinction matters for agencies that plan and report inside a demand-side platform. Measurement inside the DSP lets a buyer see Netflix delivery and outcomes next to the rest of a campaign without exporting reports from Netflix. Until the Trade Desk version ships, a Kokai buyer can target Netflix with outside data from November but cannot yet see Netflix-specific reach, frequency or attribution reported back in the same place, based on what both posts say.

Netflix had already told investors in its third-quarter letter that in-DSP reach, frequency and attribution measurement was part of its ad tech work. The October 20 posts add which DSP has it first: Yahoo.

A new Netflix Pixel and a wider Conversion API

The Netflix post covers a second set of changes that sit outside The Trade Desk. "We're excited to enhance our Conversion API (CAPI) and have built a new Netflix Pixel," according to Netflix. "These capabilities enable advertisers to onboard more than 20 lower-funnel conversion events Netflix in a standardized way." (The sentence appears in the post with a missing word between "events" and "Netflix.")

Netflix first presented its Conversion API on March 4, 2026, when it added Amazon audiences and Yahoo signals alongside its own conversion API. At that time, PPC Land reported that the server-to-server tool had been piloted with Tinuiti, which said campaigns beat benchmarks by more than 75% across financial services, ed tech and retail. The October post does not repeat that figure.

The pixel is new. A pixel collects events in a browser, while a conversion API sends them from an advertiser's servers, and many ad platforms run both to recover events that one channel misses. Netflix's post does not list the 20-plus events, does not say whether the pixel uses cookies or other identifiers, and does not say in which countries it is available. The post is tagged for the United States and Canada.

According to Netflix, the combination "unlocks two new measurement and targeting offerings":

  • Measurement tests. "Clients can test Netflix's first-party measurement solutions, including conversion lift, attribution and A/B testing," according to Netflix.
  • Conversion-based audiences. "Advertisers can now enhance their targeting and build audience segments based on their conversion data," according to Netflix.

The second offering means Netflix can build audiences from what an advertiser's customers did after seeing an ad, not only from what Netflix knows about its members. The post does not say whether those audiences stay inside Netflix's own buying tools or can also be used through partner DSPs.

The evidence Netflix offers

Under a heading that reads "Proof Netflix Ads Works," the Netflix post makes two performance claims. Both are Netflix's own figures, and neither comes with a published method.

The first concerns brand metrics. "Recent Kantar cross-publisher brand lift studies show Netflix leading on all brand lift metrics (e.g., Brand Awareness, Brand Favorability, Consideration Intent) compared to advertisers' total media mix," according to Netflix. The post does not say how many studies were run, in which markets, over what period, or by how much Netflix led. Brand lift studies compare exposed and unexposed groups through surveys, and results vary with category, creative and sample size.

The second is a single case. "By leveraging our first-party Conversion Lift measurement, we worked with a leading delivery app brand to show that Netflix drives incremental growth, resulting in a +2.7% lift in signups and a 2.9% lift in new trials," according to Netflix. The brand is not named, and the post gives no sample size, confidence interval, campaign length or country. The post adds that "these results help separate true lift from conversions that would have happened anyway," which describes what conversion lift testing is designed to do. A lift below 3% is modest, and the post does not say whether it was statistically significant.

How the November change fits Netflix's programmatic history

Netflix has opened its programmatic stack one partner at a time. It opened inventory to The Trade Desk, Google DV360 and Magnite in May 2024. In Japan, Netflix inventory became available through The Trade Desk in June 2025 through programmatic guaranteed and private marketplace deals, with Netflix's own first-party data used for targeting. In EMEA, Netflix added mood, postal code, interest and language targeting from July 1, 2025, along with first-party audience onboarding.

The next step was outside data. Pangis's post refers to it directly. "In March, we enabled proprietary DSP audience targeting across ads on Netflix with Yahoo DSP and Amazon Ads Agent," according to Netflix. PPC Land's coverage at the time described that integration as Amazon Audiences bought through Amazon DSP, launched in the US on April 13, 2026, before Amazon Audiences reached Netflix programmatic buys in EMEA on May 18. The name "Amazon Ads Agent" in the October post does not match the "Amazon DSP" wording Netflix used in March, and the post does not explain the change.

At its upfront on May 13, 2026, Netflix said it had more than 250 million monthly active viewers on its ad plan and named 15 countries for 2027, with programmatic close to half of its non-live ad inventory. On July 20, 2026, Netflix inventory opened to all Trade Desk buyers through the Sellers and Publishers 500+ marketplace with no minimum spend. The Trade Desk's October post refers back to that move: "Building on Netflix joining Sellers and Publishers 500+ in July, this is another step towards simpler planning, buying, and activation on Netflix," according to The Trade Desk.

Seen in that order, the November change closes a gap. Amazon DSP and Yahoo DSP buyers have been able to bring their DSP's own audience data to Netflix since spring. Trade Desk buyers, who had broad access to Netflix inventory from July, were limited to Netflix's targeting. From November, Kokai buyers can apply the same third-party and first-party data they use elsewhere.

What this means for The Trade Desk

The integration also matters to The Trade Desk, which has spent 2026 under pressure. In March, PPC Land reported that The Trade Desk's revenue growth had slowed to 14% in Q4 2025, with Q1 2026 guidance at 10%, down from 26% in 2024. More recently, Safari 27 blocked domains used by identity firms, including The Trade Desk's ad delivery domain adsrvr.org and the UID2 domain. On a television screen, a buyer's ability to use outside data does not depend on a browser, and premium CTV supply such as Netflix is where The Trade Desk's data marketplace can be applied without that constraint. Neither post addresses revenue terms between the two companies.

Ad plan countries: 11 named, 15 promised

The Netflix post ends with a section titled "What's Next?" "Next year, our ads plan will expand to 15 new countries, with Austria, Belgium, Colombia, Denmark, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, Peru, Poland, Sweden and Switzerland coming in March 2027," according to Netflix.

That list has 11 countries: nine in Europe plus Colombia and Peru. It matches the nine European countries PPC Land reported in September would get the ad plan on March 1, 2027, with the two Latin American markets added.

There is a mismatch with Netflix's other document from the same day. Netflix's third-quarter shareholder letter put New Zealand in the March 2027 group alongside nine EMEA countries, Colombia and Peru, which makes 12. Pangis's post leaves New Zealand out. Of the 15 countries named at the May upfront, the post therefore leaves four without a date: Indonesia, New Zealand, the Philippines and Thailand. The shareholder letter leaves three. Which document is current for New Zealand is not resolved in either source.

The post's closing lines restate the aim. "We want Netflix to be as easy to buy as it is to watch," according to Netflix. "Stay tuned. There's always more to come!"

What the posts do not say

For buyers, several practical questions remain open after October 20:

  • The exact November start date for third-party and first-party targeting in Kokai, and whether it begins in all ad-supported countries at once.
  • Whether any third-party data categories are excluded on Netflix inventory, and what data costs apply.
  • A date for in-DSP measurement in The Trade Desk.
  • The list of the 20-plus conversion events, the countries where the Netflix Pixel is available, and how it handles consent.
  • The methods behind the Kantar and delivery app results.
  • New Zealand's timing, given the difference between the post and the shareholder letter.

Timeline

Summary

Who: Netflix, through Nicolle Pangis, Vice President, UCAN Advertising, and The Trade Desk, along with Yahoo DSP, Amazon and Kantar as named partners or measurement providers.

What: Netflix and The Trade Desk said advertisers will be able to target Netflix audiences in Kokai with third-party data from a marketplace of more than 4 million segments from over 300 providers, or with their own first-party audiences. Netflix also built a Netflix Pixel, expanded its Conversion API to more than 20 lower-funnel conversion events, made single publisher attribution available in Yahoo DSP, and named 11 countries for its ad plan in March 2027. In-DSP measurement in The Trade Desk is described as coming soon without a date.

When: Both posts are dated October 20, 2026. The Kokai targeting starts in November 2026. The 11 countries are due in March 2027.

Where: Netflix's post is tagged for the United States and Canada. Neither post says whether the Kokai targeting applies in every ad-supported country from the start.

Why: Netflix has added outside audience data one DSP at a time, starting with Amazon and Yahoo in March 2026. Trade Desk buyers, who have had open marketplace access to Netflix since July, could not bring their own or third-party data until now. The update arrived on the same day Netflix lowered its 2026 ad revenue expectation to about $2.7 billion and tied part of the shortfall to slower partner integrations.