Among millennials, the pre-roll is the most hated ad format ever with research showing 94% of people will choose to skip it if they could. Ironically, YouTube is where our millennials are at, searching for things that interest them, big news or keeping up to date with their favourite influencers. Netflix wanted to create awareness of Netflix Original Titles by showing how content could fit into their individual world view. So, rather than assault them with the same irrelevant blanket pre-roll repeated ad nauseam, we needed to serve them something more personal that would minimise the disruption by being contextually relevant to exactly what they were searching.

Netflix tagged over 2,000 search queries and generated the same number of personalized quips in real time using 30 base films from six Netflix Original titles and hundreds of responsive copy combinations. Over a six-week campaign period, the quips that were generated covered not just the usual search queries, but responded to key calendar events in the Philippines and Singapore such as Valentine’s Day, Lunar New Year, Sinulog and Super Bowl. The programmatic approach allowed Netflix to deliver personalized stories at scale, generating high entertainment value and local relevance.