An over-the-top(OTT) media service is a streaming media service provided through the Internet- think Netflix, Hulu, Amazon or Singtel CAST. Globally, the subscription-based OTT market is expected to grow to USD 156.9 billion by 2024. Over the past years, the Asia Pacific region has experienced the biggest growth in OTT media. According to PwC’s global entertainment and media outlook report 2019–2023, APAC will overtake the largest OTT market in the word by 2021.
With the advent of 5G, the OTT media market will continuously grow as data becomes cheaper and increases in speed. More and more media companies are launching their own services and licensing less of their popular content to other platforms.
In this fast-growing OTT media landscape, content is king, of course. But engagement trumps it all. As the OTT market becomes increasingly competitive, OTT service providers are looking for ways to keep users engaged.
To increase engagement and deliver a better watching experience, there are a number of UIUX considerations to bear in mind across the entire user journey — from onboarding the user to making navigation easy and intuitive, and finally to personalising content for users.
These are summarised in the image above, and I will share more about the UIUX issues in the following paragraphs. Let’s dive into each of them, and discover the possible design solutions!
1. What do we really mean by ‘watching TV’ nowadays
The meaning of “watching TV” has changed over the past few decades. Our watching pattern was traditionally controlled by show timings. However, with the rise of OTT, this experience has evolved. OTT media applications allow flexibility and ownership to viewers. This means that you can watch instantly anytime on any compatible device connected to the Internet. Also, you can set your watching pattern by pausing, fast-forwarding, and rewinding.
Understanding this change in how people watch content, the following UX considerations can be taken into account for creating OTT media apps.
High compatibility with multiple devices
Today, users have lots of devices. When watching content, users continually swap from device to device in different situations. So, it is important to ensure that your design is compatible for a broad range of devices. This will help users to enjoy OTT content whenever they want.
Seamless onboarding experience
To watch TV channels, turning on the TV is all you need to do. But to watch OTT content, an onboarding experience is required for new users. The business model of many OTT media apps is based on subscription. So, the onboarding process should be very simple and easy to entice users to continue paying for their membership.
Being straightforward is one of the effective onboarding strategies. Netflix does this very well. On the landing page, you can see what you can do with the text “Watch anywhere. Cancel anytime.” By simply entering your email address, you can sign up.
Multiple profiles and screens for a single account
Many of us might have experienced fighting over a TV remote control, arguing about which show we want to watch next. We used to compete for a limited resource, one TV screen. But OTT media apps have finally ended these TV remote control battles in households.
OTT media apps like Netflix and Disney+ allow different devices and user profiles on one account. This means each member can access their content via their individualised interfaces. You might expect your OTT media apps to reflect your taste, not your sibling’s. By allowing multiple profiles and screens per account, users can keep their watching patterns.
2. Navigation: How to make a large catalogue of contents navigable
Content only has meaning when it can be found. Today, we can enjoy massive content on OTT media apps, but this makes it more and more difficult for users to find what they want to watch.
Imagine, you’ve just come back home after a long day of meetings and intensive work. All you want to do is watch an episode of something interesting before sleep. Then do you want to spend lots of time browsing for content? That’s cognitively exhausting.
So, OTT media apps should provide an easily navigable interface. To enhance this navigation experience, the following UI/UX considerations should be aware of when designing OTT media apps.
Use of reading pattern on a landing page
When we scan information quickly, there are patterns we follow. Humans read from top to bottom across cultures. Most writing systems go from left to right. The principles behind landing pages are related to how users perceive information.
This is why the landing pages of many OTT media apps have similar structures. Think about what some OTT media apps look like: logo on the top left, navigation at the top, call-to-action button on the middle left, other contents at the bottom. These are placed with a purpose.
Clear navigation menu
A clear navigation menu helps users find TV shows or films to enjoy. It is commonly displayed as a navigation bar or a hamburger menu, but not limited to them.
Many OTT media apps use a horizontal global navigation bar at the top. This navigation bar is often a list of content categories to help users browse through the categories. When designing a navigation menu, text colour should have enough contrast with the background colour.
Accessible search bar
If users don’t like what they see once they browse through or want to watch a specific film, they will go immediately to a search bar. So it’s important to make it visible. Its look and function should be designed in predictable ways like using a magnifying glass icon.
Also, users should be able to navigate regardless of where they are. So it’s good to put a search bar in the same place on every page. Instantly showing results as users type can also enhance user engagement. Rather than simply showing “no results”, displaying results as users type makes them keep exploring and navigating.
Mood creation with typography
On OTT media apps, contents are usually displayed in its artwork and typography. Whether users realise or not, typography on its artwork can help to discover content.
Typography on poster artwork reflects their genre and mood. Netflix understands the power of font and its ability to give users a feel for a new series. Font for each title has been decided to incite a reaction in a user’s psyche. For example, decorative fonts are used for fun, quirky content; handwritten fonts are used for more playful content.
Interactive video preview
Previewing videos can be a good method to speed up a navigation process. This preview helps users to decide whether to click play or not. Netflix also uses this method to help users find content to enjoy. Upon hover, each thumbnail becomes expanded as a preview screen. By watching highlighted stories, users can make more confident decisions on their next selections.
3. Personalisation: How to connect users to stories they like
Content has much more meaning when users can engage with it. Users are actually more than just target groups they belong to, as we all have different tastes. This is why tailored experience is becoming the norm in OTT media apps.
By using analytics and machine learning, more meaningful watching experiences are being created to meet users’ needs. To tell the right story to the right person, the following UI/UX considerations can be included.
Personalised recommendations
Many OTT media apps put in efforts to personalise their interfaces by recommending content based on an individual’s watching history. A tailor-made recommendation feature can be provided by collecting data such as what a user watches or how long a user watches. Curating based on a user’s watching pattern is an intuitive way and can help users consume content in an engaging and satisfying way.
Artwork Personalisation
Displaying personalised artwork makes users visualise and find stories they will love. Based on how much a user prefers different genres, artworks can be shown differently. For example, on Netflix, if a user watches romantic movies many times, an artwork of content will be an image with a romantic mood. If a user watches more comedies, an artwork of content will be an image with a funny mood. This personalization of artwork effectively explains why this content is appealing to you.
Trend-based recommendation
Social TV talk has been a way to contact and connect with people. Many of us don’t want to experience the fear of missing out. We want to join in and be included. People love watching what’s popular. To ensure users stay on top of trending content, many OTT media apps show their top 10 lists based on location or/and updated in real-time.
The OTT media market will continue to grow and its ecosystem will continue to evolve. The only thing that is constant in its landscape is change. So, the key is continued innovation by understanding users. The companies that adapt to changes will shape the market and thrive.
2359’s in-depth knowledge of OTT solutions and innovation strategies has helped our clients to achieve their OTT dreams. Along with an expert team possessing the right skill-set, we provide our powerful front-end framework for OTT media applications.
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