Ensuring the Successful Launch of Ads on Netflix

This post details the development and application of a traffic replay framework, built upon Netflix's existing critical traffic migration infrastructure. This framework was used to simulate projected 'Basic with ads' subscriber traffic weeks before launch, enabling the testing of new backend components and ad partner integrations at scale. The setup involved using the AB testing platform to capture requests, Mantis streams for processing, a duplicate production environment in 'replay traffic' mode, and Keystone streams for storing responses. This allowed for realistic load testing and algorithm validation, significantly increasing launch confidence.