On top of being an absolutely tremendous pun that will surely ingratiate me with the younger generation (I'm still cool, I promise), "Netflix and fill" is also a bonafide reality. Right now, most everyone (i.e., your potential hires) are quarantining on the couch, binge watching the latest season of God Knows What starring Lord Knows Who and they could be watching your ads in between episodes.
Connected TV (CTV) advertising allows you to target your talent, by occupation, directly on the things that they spend more time staring at than anything else: video streaming services. The numbers are actually staggering; CTV views are up 428% compared to the first half of last year, and viewers are watching content four times longer on CTVs than they are on smartphones. In 2019, more than half the U.S. population owned a CTV (that includes things like Roku, Apple TV, and gaming consoles).
Everyone is always talking about meeting candidates where they are. Well...
You could be leveraging this unprecedented level of lounging to find the talent you need, on their terms. Which just so happens to be rewatching The Office for the fourth time.
How it works
I don't think I need to do much explaining on this one; you've definitely seen Connected TV ads at some point in your life. Probably in the past week. Maybe even today. Heck, maybe even right now while you're multitasking reading this.
That's the point. Think about your own streaming habits and how much time you're spending watching your favorite shows and how many times you're seeing the same ads, over and over. Now imagine these are your ads, in front of your talent. And imagine that it happens seamlessly within one platform.
The SFX programmatic advertising platform will automatically run your videos in the TV and geolocations that make the most sense for your hiring needs. All that's required is establishing some basic campaign information, like job type, budget, and time-to-fill goals, and then uploading your content (15 to 30-second videos are standard for this type of media) into the platform. The algorithm will do the rest based on auto-calculated geotargeting.
It may sound absurdly simple that you can just upload a file and be done and it is, because the work was put into developing a powerful algorithm that handles all the complexity on the backend of the platform and allows for a breezy experience for you on the front.
What it looks like
Example time. Let's say you're a retailer with 500 stories in five states, and you need to hire seasonal staff for the summer rush. You would create a new campaign in SFX, set your budget and time-to-fill goals, and upload a 30-second video (you likely already have a great recruitment video or employee story that can be repurposed you can start from scratch if you want, but you don't always have to!). The geotargeting would automatically target candidates in a certain radius around every store to ensure you're finding the people most apt to watch, pay attention and apply.
Similarly, the platform will automatically contextually target the right people by things like industry and full time versus part time. In this case, the ads would run only for those in retail seeking hourly work.
Because SFX is connected to the entire CTV marketplace, your ads run on most of the major streaming services, including:
- Hulu
- SlingTV
- ESPN
- CNNgo
- CBS News Live
- Discovery
- NBC Universal
- BBC America
- AMC
(Disclaimer, Netflix is one of the big services that doesn't currently run ads. I know, I know Ñ this means my pun was technically a lie. Go ahead, call the Pun Police, I'll come quietly).
Why you should try it
- 60% of marketers say video ads drive the most engagement, compared to 30% who say images do.
- Studies reveal that over half of streaming subscribers are willing to sit through a video advertisement to continue watching a show, compared to 86% of viewers who skip ads on traditional television. If you're spending money or resources on creating videos, this is simply a much better way to maximize ROI and reach than hoping people stumble across it on your career site or social channels.
- You have an opportunity to really speak to people and catch their attention in a dynamic way. Plus, you went out of your way to find them in their comfort zone. Passive, but potentially interested, candidates might take you up on that.
- It works as an engine for you every day, every week, building awareness and hopefully traffic to your career site and jobs. And who is saying no to an extra awareness machine?
