Netflix Hires Ex-Google Cloud AI VP Darshan Kantak to Lead Ads Platform

Netflix has cut its 2025 advertising revenue forecast to $2.7 billion — down from earlier expectations that ad income would double for a second straight year — and has now hired Darshan Kantak as vice president of its ads platform to help close the gap.

Kantak joins from Google Cloud, where he was VP of product for Applied AI. His résumé also includes senior roles at Snap Inc., Meta, Microsoft, and Yahoo. At Netflix, he reports to Amy Reinhard, president of advertising, and takes oversight of the advertising product, engineering, and data & insights teams building strategic ad platform initiatives worldwide.

In his new role, Kantak leads the teams constructing the advertising experience on the service and enables reporting and operational tools for partners using the Netflix Ads Suite (the streamer's in-house ad-buying platform).

What does this change for advertisers?

For media buyers and ad-ops teams, the appointment signals where Netflix's ad product is heading next: deeper AI-driven tooling, better measurement, and faster operational infrastructure. Reinhard framed the hire in exactly those terms.

"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," Reinhard said.

Kantak himself pointed to member experience as the priority. "What drew me to Netflix is the chance to use that technology to build impactful solutions," he said. That means "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."

A revenue target under pressure

The hire lands at an awkward moment for the streamer's ad business. On its Q3 earnings call last month, Netflix said it lowered its ad revenue projection to $2.7 billion, citing a "slightly slower than expected rollout of some ad product capabilities."

That admission followed the Netflix Ads Suite's most recent update round, which added new measurement capabilities (tools letting advertisers verify how their campaigns performed) and an expanded programmatic offering (automated, software-driven ad buying rather than direct sales).

In other words: the roadmap exists, the executive bench is being reinforced, but the build has lagged the forecast. Kantak's mandate is to speed that up.

A wider leadership shakeout

The appointment also lands amid sweeping personnel changes across Netflix. Earlier this month the company laid off roughly 6% of its staff, about 1,000 employees.

Chief content officer Bela Bajaria departed and was replaced by Peter Rice, a former Disney and Fox executive. Film boss Dan Lin is gone, as are TV executives Lisa Lang McMullen, James Oh, Carolina Garcia, and Andrew McQuinn. Doug Belgrad, Netflix's film VP, also exited.

For advertisers, the practical read is straightforward: the ads business is one of the few areas where Netflix is hiring senior talent rather than cutting it, even as the company shrinks elsewhere. Whether Kantak can translate Applied AI experience into the product velocity the $2.7 billion target demands will define Netflix's appeal to programmatic buyers over the next several quarters.