In early 2020, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings reiterated his disinterest in an ad-supported tier on Netflix, declaring that “there’s not easy money” in advertising. Nearly three years later, and Netflix is taking the plunge into the advertising world. The service has nearly sold out of its initial ad inventory with premium rates and hundreds of brands in auto, CPG, travel, and retail.

Easy or not, there’s at least some money to be made.

But the real evaluation will begin right after the starting gun fires, media buyers and analysts told Marketing Brew, making the first few months critical for Netflix to prove whether it can compete in ad-supported streaming.

“The shiny-new-toy idea of Netflix is not going to last very long,” ​said Karen Benson, evp, director of integrated media at Deutsch NY. “They have a short rope in terms of how long they actually have before they get some of these things right.”

Read the full story here.—KS

Each Tuesday, we spotlight Marketing Brew readers in our Coworking series. If you’d like to be featured, introduce yourself here.

Uno Susanto is growth marketing manager at Codecademy, a platform that offers coding classes.

Favorite project you’ve worked on? I had a lot of fun working with an influencer who goes by “@CSJackie” to get some TikTok-style ad creatives made for Codecademy. She was someone I had been following on social media for a couple years, so it was cool being able to get in touch and collaborate on a project together!

What’s your favorite ad campaign? Coinbase’s Super Bowl 2022 bouncing QR-code ad. It stood out in a sea of overproduced, Hollywood star-studded ads and brought back a sense of nostalgia (which is very trendy right now!!) by mimicking the old-school screen saver.

One thing we can’t guess from your LinkedIn profile? I love disco! Disco balls, disco music, disco planters, disco fashion, I love it all. I’m so happy Apple finally released a disco-ball emoji in their recent update!

What marketing trend are you most optimistic about? Might be an unpopular opinion here, but I’m pretty optimistic about marketing within Web3. I think a lot of people aren’t open to the idea yet since they don’t know what that might look like exactly, but I think the space is ripe for disruption. Advertising in Web3 will be very different to what it currently is, especially since the entire purpose of it is to get rid of a centralized figure (aka Google, FB, etc.) that has the power to make all the decisions. But that doesn’t mean that ads won’t exist, they’ll just take on a different format. Like Natasha Bedingfield sings, ”the rest is still unwritten…”

What’s one marketing-related podcast, social account, or series you’d recommend? Harry Dry’s Marketing Examples for new tips in your inbox every Monday.

For some brands, podcast advertising isn’t enough. As we covered earlier this year, companies like Southwest Airlines and McDonald’s have created their own podcasts. Increasingly, internal podcasts are also becoming more popular as companies try to stay connected to their remote workforces.

If you’re thinking of creating a branded podcast, check out this guide from Sidekick, Morning Brew’s recommendations and productivity newsletter. It covers the ins and outs of producing a “really, really good” podcast. Read an excerpt below or click here for the full piece.

With all kinds of free tutorials and tip sheets out there now, podcasting seems like something anyone could do. Maybe you even convinced yourself you’re the next Guy Raz and purchased a mic on a whim? But before you rip open that box and breathe in the intoxicating smell of a brand-new electronic toy, pause for a moment. Having the right equipment doesn’t mean you’ll do the job well, and there’s a lot to learn about the podcast format before you hit record.

Sidekick spoke with Jared Smith, senior podcast producer at Spotify; Alex Steed, cohost of You Are Good and coproducer of You’re Wrong About; and Alex Laughlin, producer of Normal Gossip, to learn more about what it takes to create a podcast that’s sonically appealing and entertaining. You know…actually good.

There are a lot of bad marketing tips out there. These aren’t those.

My hubby: Brush up on the updates to Google’s Ads Data Hub, which includes specialized hubs for marketers and measurement partners.

First to the party: Get familiar with why Bloomberg is debuting a first-party data advertising platform and moving away from third-party ads.

No sweat: If you need to spruce up your social calendar for November, here’s a handy list of upcoming holidays.

Best of the best SEO: Outrank the competition with premium links from Zendesk, HubSpot, Monday.com, and The Washington Post. dofollow.io helps drive sustainable, organic growth with no gimmicks or tricks. Learn more here.*

^{*This is sponsored advertising content.}

The GoPro Creator Summit is quite a feat, bringing 40 creators to one incredible destination for a once-in-a-lifetime experience. It’s a massive undertaking for a brand, generating big brand love from the invited creators. Social media maven Jack Appleby attended this year’s summit and chatted with Kelly Baker, GoPro’s senior director of Community Marketing, about how the team throws this best-in-class influencer activation.

Watch the full webinar now.

• IPG is recommending that clients temporarily pause paid media spend on Twitter.
• Twitter Chief Customer Officer Sarah Personette said she had resigned from the company, part of a wave of executive departures and firings.
• Victoria’s Secret acquired the DTC lingerie company Adore Me for $400 million.
• Chegg, a textbook rental and online tutoring company, is facing a legal complaint from the FTC alleging “numerous data security lapses.”
• Peacock will distribute Hallmark programming via a branded hub as part of what the companies are calling a first-of-its-kind deal.
• Private businesses with four or more employees are now required to list salary ranges on job listings for jobs based in New York City.

Snap poll: What do you typically do with corporate merch from your company?

Wear/use it in public
Wear/use it in private
Donate it
Throw it away

Jake from State Farm, the charismatic khaki-clad insurance agent, was first introduced in a commercial in what year?

1. 1999
2. 2003
3. 2011
4. 2019

Keep scrolling for the answer.

Catch up on a few Marketing Brew stories you might have missed.

• The space industry is gravitating toward podcast advertising
• Agency holding companies seem cautiously pessimistic despite Q3 growth
• Audiences say advertisers shouldn’t avoid hard news, like war or Covid