WAVE
Customised OTT service
#Content design #UX research #User testing #UIUX design #Video editing
Duration Mar-May. 2023
My role Solo project_ UX research, UI/UX design, Content design. Branding, Video editing
Type School project
Tool Figma, Aftereffect, Photoshop, Illustrator
RESEARCH
Overview
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OTT is a means of providing television and film content over the internet and to suit the requirements of the individual consumer. The term itself stands for “over-the-top”, which implies that a content provider is going over the top of existing internet services.
OTT service has become an indispensable form and pattern for people’s content consumption. More OTT service platforms are emerging daily, and more and more people are subscribing to multiple OTT services simultaneously.
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Then, among the increasingly overflowing contents, are users experiencing satisfactory OTT platform use?
This research analysed the demographic of OTT service users and examined their usage patterns and behaviours through user surveys and interviews. And through this, I propose UX and media that can deliver a better OTT streaming service experience to users.
Statistics
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- A new study reveals that Netflix users spend 17.8 minutes, on average, browsing possible TV and movie options before selecting something. The survey of 2,000 Americans, conducted by the makers of Reelgood, an app that suggests what to watch based on the movies you like, also found that Netflix users browse for 196 percent longer than cable subscribers, who typically take 9.1 minutes to figure out what to watch.
- The survey, conducted in conjunction with Learndipity Data Insights, found that Netflix users, on average, watch 3.2 programs per day, suggesting that, unless users have a list of shows already queued up, they're spending upwards of 57 minutes a day searching.
User Demographics
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OTT services have become popular worldwide and are now deeply embedded in our daily lives. Many people around the world subscribe to more than one OTT service. The number of users of OTT services worldwide is estimated at 2 billion. Currently, the OTT industry is very subdivided not only in internationally but domestically, making it very difficult to predict the number of platforms. Regardless of all ages and genders, many people are increasingly adapting to using OTT services rather than television.
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The number of users in the OTT video segment is expected to increase to 3.9 billion by 2026.
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Overall, the average OTT user penetration will be 43.1% in 2022 and grow to 49.9% by 2026.
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The largest SVOD (subscription video-on-demand) revenue in 2021 was Netflix, with 222 million subscribers.
User Groups
01. Multiple platforms users
- Content enthusiasts, movie fans, series fans, content creators, film directors, actors, content industry workers
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02. People who don’t want to spend many time on browsing selection pages
- Busy office workers, people who are tired of choosing content, people who are confused by too many contents options.
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03. People who want to get recommendations depending on the situation and dates
- People who enjoy various genres of content, people who watch different content depending on time and place, and people who watch content according to a certain pattern.
User survey
participants Questions Time Survey platform
75 21 5 mins Google forms
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Survey Strategy
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01. User watching pattern 02. User Behaviour
How many platforms do you subscribe to? When, where, and with whom users use the service.
Experience and Reasons for Unsubscription.
What content users choose according to their mood.
How long does it take to choose the content?
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03. Effects on user’s selection 04. Inconvenience when using
Which factors are most reliable in content decisions? Inconveniences or improvement. requirements while OTT streaming platforms.
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Survey results
Through this, I confirmed the contradiction that users who want easy content viewing feel fatigue when using OTT services. Users use OTT services to view content easily and comfortably. However, among many platforms and recommended contents, users feel rather uncomfortable and waste of time. Through this, it can be seen that in order to improve the quality of OTT service experience, it is very important to reduce the fatigue, confusion, and waste of time felt by users when selecting content.
In addition, current OTT services rely very highly on algorithms. However, the survey confirmed that not only algorithms but various factors of individuals that cannot be uniformised strongly influence content selection.
This includes factors that AI does not predict, such as friends’ recommendations, moods, and conditions.
Hence, I thought it would be possible to plan a new recommendation system and OTT platform that can include various determinants affecting individuals and provide users with many platforms together.
User Interview
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Bono
39 years old
Male
In Melbourne
Tattoo artists
Hobby: Watching Youtube, Netflix, Photography
Bono usually enjoys watching Netflix, YouTube, and Watcha (a Korean OTT service). He is a user who uses OTT platform as a habit every day. However, he feels very tired from looking around various platforms. He says this has also led to cancellations of subscriptions recently. Instead, he mentioned the conventional system recommending content according to people's life patterns. Radio and televison broadcast content according to time. They already know what people want to watch and need depending on the time line. Through this pattern, users check the weather every morning and watch shows, series or news in the evening.
The interview with Bono reminded me of the channel-style content exposure method. Radio and TV have a unique number for each content and broadcasting station and users can turn it around.
We sometimes have to make too many choices between too many options. Rather, a simple choice like in the past may make it easier for busy modern people to rest.
Identified problems
Why Users Are Tired of Content Choices
1. In the case of Multiple OTT users, users have to access all OTT platforms separately
2. Confusion and indecision felt in vast content
3. Too much information and selection steps selecting content
4. Unconsidered algorithm factors for content selection (friend recommendation, running time, ratings and reviews, etc.)
Initial concept _ A collection of all platforms in one app
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This concept began by planning services for multi-platform subscribers. According to an earlier research survey, around 55% of participants replied they subscribed more than one streaming platforms. And their main service use problem was that it took a long time to explore each of the platforms.
To solve this problem, I came up with a service that allows users to link accounts of subscribed platforms to one site and look around all of the subscribed content.
In this service, users can browse personalized content options according to their subscription status.
UX DESIGN
Lo-fi Wireframe
- Onboarding flow
In this service, the key function is to be able to look around all the platforms that users subscribe to on one application. Therefore, I organized the page so that when the first users installs the application, the users can select the service they are subscribing to from the onboarding page.
- All contents
After linking the streaming platforms accounts being subscribed to the application, the user can select ‘All content’ or ‘My content’.
When selecting ‘All content’, the user can decide whether to pay after browsing all movies or TV shows at once regardless of whether he or she subscribes.
- My contents
When selecting My Content, the user can browse the contents only on his or her subscribed platforms.
User Testing
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participants Questions Time Survey platform
3 5 5 mins Maze
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I conducted online user testing using ‘Maze’ to see if users can follow the flow of the initial wireframe well.
A total of three testers participated, and after going through the onboarding page, they assigned one mission to each of ‘All contents’ and ‘My contents’. First mission for testing ‘All content’ is “Buy a movie ‘A star is born’ in ‘all contents’ section.”, and second mission for testing ‘My content’ is “Watching ‘About time’ after checking reviews.”
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As a result of user prototype testing, in the first mission, ‘All contents’ section, users all failed to find a specific movie. The testers answered that the flow was too complicated to choose a movie, and that it was difficult to intuitively notice the features and differences between ‘All contents’ and ‘My contents’. Users are already used to exploring streaming platforms, but the main distraction is that the onboarding page is too short to understand the concept of the application. The main reason why they failed the mission was because they did not clearly understand the concept of the application.
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Missions
01. Buy a movie ‘A star is born’ in ‘all contents’ section.
02. Watching ‘About time’ after checking reviews.
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Follow-up questions
01. Was there any inconvenience in the process of purchasing a movie?
02. Was there any inconvenience in finding movie reviews?
03. Do you think the size of all the images, icons, and text in the application is appropriate?
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Analysis
Issues
01. Few beginning journeys for users to understand the application
02. No hierachy in wireframes
03. Too many information in one page
04. No visual difference between ‘All content’ and ‘My content’ page
05. Small buttons for click precisely
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Solutions
01. Make clear main page
02. Simplify and focus on one key function
03. Consider changing the word ‘All content’ to reduce users confusion
04. Adjust the different content box sizes for informations hierachy
Through the testing and feedback, I realized the need to create a front page that can recognize the functions of ‘All contents’ and ‘My contents’ more intuitively. Also, I thought I have to organize a page that focuses more on one function than emphasizing both functions equally, ‘All contents’ and ‘My contents’.
Therefore, I planned to reorganize the pages so that users can feel the use of the application more simply by focusing more on the ability to collect the platform they are subscribing to, which is the core of the application.
UI DESIGN
I named this application ‘Wave’. Wave implies dynamism and connectivity, connecting various contents and diverse platforms. The logo was designed by combining ‘the shape of wave + the infinity symbol’, reflecting this application's characteristics that contain infinite content.
OUTCOMES
Onboarding screen
Home screen
My contents_ Front page
My contents_ Apple TV Plus, Netflix
Discover
App promotional video
