Ahead of Stranger Things Season 5 premiering this month, Netflix has a whole new acronym to turn its ad reporting upside down.
Today, the company announced several advertising updates, including revealing that it’s using a new metric to calculate engagement. Rather than using Monthly Active Users (MAU), which focused on profiles interacting on its ad tier, the streamer will now use Monthly Active Viewers (MAV).
So what’s MAV? Well, since Netflix just invented it, here’s what the company says:
According to Netflix, the metric encompasses viewers who have watched at least one minute of ads on Netflix per month, with the number being multiplied by an estimated average number of people within a household—a number Netflix gets from its first-party data. The company says it’s a more complete metric. For example, Netflix’s WWE content includes ads, so viewers who watch WWE but have a non-ad account would now be counted.
Using this new calculation, Netflix says it has 190 million MAVs. Previously, the company reported it had 94 million MAUs. (Again, MAUs are not MAVs.)
“We did discuss a lot of the acronyms because we wanted to make it clearer, and we landed on viewers because we thought it really captured that co-viewing experience and let us catch that full audience,” Mitzi Reaugh, Netflix vp of financial strategy, told ADWEEK during a press call.
Regardless of the metric it chooses, Netflix has experienced significant growth in its ad tier since coming into the market around three years ago. This year, Netflix announced it was on pace to double its ad revenue, and ADWEEK previously reported that Netflix has around half of its household viewership happening on its ad tier.
“Nothing is going to change in terms of how we’re going to market and selling in,” Amy Reinhard, Netflix’s ads president, said during the press call. “We’re just trying to provide more information for our advertisers and buyers.”
In addition to the metric update, Netflix also revealed partners for some of its marquee shows and events.
Among the highlights, the company said Emily in Paris has partnered with Peroni Nastro Azzurro in the U.S. on a 360 campaign. Meanwhile, Stranger Things is teaming up with Doritos on a custom flavor, bringing a revival of the ’80s Gatorade Citrus Cooler, partnering with Fiat on a custom Stranger Things car in Latin America, and joining Nestlé to showcase a limited-edition cookie packaging.
Netflix’s NFL Christmas games are also partnering with FanDuel, Verizon, Accenture, and Tide. Additionally, after testing dynamic ad insertion (DAI) with live events such as WWE Raw and SmackDown, the streamer will introduce DAI to its Christmas NFL games in the U.S., Brazil, Canada, Germany, Mexico, and the U.K., with more DAI coming in 2026.
Other ad updates include Netflix testing interactive video ads in the U.S. and Canada, which will roll out globally in Q2 2026 and cater to members’ viewing behaviors while allowing advertisers to benefit from dynamic templates.
The company is also stepping up its targeting in 2026, with advancements in demographic targeting to include more categories, such as household income and education; a global partnership expansion with LiveRamp; and in-market targeting to reach consumers looking to purchase products. Netflix is also testing a planning API to help agencies utilize in-house planning tools and real-time forecasting across demos and geographies.