Changing channels

Major improvements have been promised at The Job Channel, the iDTV (interactive digital TV) recruitment site on Sky and cable, as a result of its acquisition last month (May) by the digital broadcaster Eicom PLC.

Tony Jewell, founder of PlanetRecruit.com and recently CTO of Hotonline has been appointed CEO, and pledges big changes.

iDTV is an exciting, yet unexploited opportunity for recruitment advertising says Tony Jewell, 90% of the 10M viewers we can reach through our sites on Sky, NTL and Telewest use interactive services, and some 70% of those do not have internet access at home. In addition to the 55% of viewers who are ABC1, we have access to the C2Ds who arenít reached by the internet and normally can only be reached through newspaper advertising.

The new look Job Channel will concentrate on micro-sites and branding opportunities, rather than having thousands of short text ads like the majority of internet job boards. Itís important for us to exploit what makes iDTV different from the internet - viewers are unlikely to enter complex search strings via their remote controls. TV is a visual medium, and we will concentrate on making attractive branded adverts that give an opportunity for employers and agencies tell the viewers more about themselves. Viewers will be able to browse through adverts relevant to their location and chosen sector says Justin Richmond, sales manager.

Initially The Job Channel will concentrate on its core sectors, rather than try and become a generalist site - weíd rather do a few things well, than try and fail to be all things to all people says Jewell.
These sectors are retail/sales and catering/hospitality - areas where The Job Channel has traditionally done well.

The Job Channel is actively looking for partners to help build and develop this service, and would like to speak to all companies, agencies and job boards looking to exploit this new and exciting market.