Netflix Taps Google’s Darshan Kantak as Ads Platform VP

Netflix is adding Google Cloud executive Darshan Kantak to serve as the vice president of its ads platform.In his new role, Kantak will oversee the advertising product, engineering and data & insights teams and develop strategic ad initiatives for the streamer globally. These teams build the ads experience on the service and enable reporting and operational tools for the company’s Ads Suite partners. Prior to Netflix, he served as vice president of product for Applied AI at Google Cloud, where he led teams building Enterprise AI applications to support the customer experience across retail, telecommunications, healthcare, financial services, public sector, tech, media, entertainment, and more. He also held leadership roles at Snap Inc., Meta, Microsoft and Yahoo. “I’ve spent most of my career building brand and direct response ad platforms, and more recently helping scale enterprise AI solutions,” Kantak said in a statement. “What drew me to Netflix is the chance to use that technology to build impactful solutions; ads that feel relevant and welcome for members, and technical tools that make advertising even more innovative and effective. I look forward to building that with the team.” Kantak will report to Netflix Ad President Amy Reinhard. “I look forward to welcoming Darshan to Netflix. He has deep knowledge of the advertising industry, as well as vast leadership experience scaling ads organizations at fast-growing companies,” Reinhard said in a statement. “Darshan’s expertise spans from innovative technical skills to unique AI tooling and operations, all of which I’m excited for him to bring to the Netflix ads business.” Kantak’s appointment comes as Netflix is expecting ad revenue for 2026 to come in at roughly $2.7 billion, down from its previous projection of $3 billion. “We set big growth targets for our ads business this year. We establishedan aggressive product road map that was consistent with that strategy. I think that the build-out that we’ve been on is the fastest build-out of a comparable ad stack in our industry,” Netflix co-CEO Greg Peters told analysts during the company’s third quarter earnings call. “But we are currently a bit behind our aggressive target for the year.” Though the ads business has seen over 80% growth in 2026, Peters blamed the revenue shortfall on delays in the rollout and partner integrations for some of its new ads products. However, he said the issue would not impact the business’ long-term gains. “Getting to the integration model that we want sometimes takes a bit more work with our partners, but we strongly believe that a modest short-term hit for a better long-term strategic position is a good ultimatetrade-off,” he added. In 2027, Netflix’s ad tier will expand to 15 new countries. The first phase of its rollout will start in March, which includes nine countries in Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region, Colombia, Peru and New Zealand.