Streaming giants YouTube and Netflix double down on AI-driven ad targeting

05/21/2025 / By Laura Harris

YouTube and Netflix are using advanced AI (like Google’s Gemini) to analyze viewer behavior in real-time, serving ads at peak emotional moments (e.g., after climactic scenes) to maximize engagement.
Netflix’s new Ads Suite integrates third-party data brokers (Experian, Acxiom) and “clean room” data sharing, allowing advertisers to merge user profiles with viewing habits for hyper-targeted campaigns.
Despite claims of controlled data sharing, critics argue these practices create a surveillance system, turning every pause, rewind or emotional reaction into exploitable data points.
By 2026, Netflix plans AI-powered interactive ads (mid-roll, pause screens, second-screen integrations), further blurring the line between content and advertising.
Critics like Cindy Harper argue streaming platforms have shifted from ad-free escapes to behavioral profiling tools, where personal viewing habits are monetized without transparency or user control.

YouTube and Netflix are accelerating efforts to refine how they track and monetize viewer behavior, deploying advanced artificial intelligence (AI) and behavioral profiling to optimize ad delivery.

At its recent Upfront event in New York, YouTube unveiled Peak Points, a new ad format powered by Google’s Gemini AI. The system analyzes video content in real-time to pinpoint the exact moment a viewer is most emotionally invested, such as a climactic scene or a dramatic revelation and serves an ad immediately afterward.

Meanwhile, Netflix is rolling out its Netflix Ads Suite, a comprehensive toolkit designed to transform user engagement into a goldmine for advertisers. The platform, now live in North America and expanding globally, introduces several key features. (Related: Google and Meta caught harvesting your sensitive financial information through tax prep software.)

Brands can now integrate their customer data with Netflix’s audience insights through intermediaries like LiveRamp or directly via Netflix itself. Third-party data brokers, including Experian and Acxiom, have also been granted access to enhance consumer profiles. Additionally, the platform offers “clean room” data sharing – a controlled environment where partners analyze combined datasets without direct access to raw user data, though privacy advocates caution that this does little to address broader surveillance concerns.

Looking ahead, Netflix plans to roll out AI-powered ad formats by 2026, including interactive mid-roll ads, pause-screen prompts and second-screen integrations, all driven by generative AI.

“By controlling our own ad tech, we’ll be able to deliver newer tools, better measurement and more creative formats.” Amy Reinhard, president of advertising at Netflix, said. “The foundation of our ads business is in place. And going forward, the pace of progress is going to be even faster.”

Harper: Streaming platforms have been transforming entertainment into a surveillance tool

The latest strategies, ranging from emotion-based ad placements to deep data integrations, signal a new era where streaming platforms turn engagement into hyper-targeted marketing opportunities, often at the expense of user privacy. Platforms are now treating every pause, rewind and emotional reaction as a data point to be monetized.

YouTube claims this approach ensures ads are seen when attention is highest, but privacy advocates argue it risks disrupting the viewing experience with jarring interruptions. Netflix’s brand lift measurement tool also ties viewing habits to brand perception, effectively turning entertainment choices into behavioral signals for advertisers.

“Together, these moves represent a significant escalation in how viewer behavior is turned into advertising capital. Rather than offering users more control or transparency, these companies are building increasingly sophisticated systems to monitor emotional responses, track habits and blend commercial content into what was once private viewing.

“What used to be an escape from traditional ad models is now fast becoming a laboratory for them. What was once personal downtime is now a stream of data points used to shape ad targeting and measure brand influence,” Cindy Harper wrote in her article for Reclaim the Net.

Harper claims streaming platforms have transformed entertainment into a surveillance tool. Every show you watch, every pause or rewind, even emotional reactions, are meticulously logged – not to enhance one’s experience, but to profile and predict one’s behavior.

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