Setting the Scene: Navigation as the New Media Industry Logic
“This is simply too much television.” — FX Networks CEO John Landgraf
The streaming landscape has become increasingly fragmented and, as a result, much more competitive. Netflix, arguably the most established SVOD brand with 36% US market share, is no longer the sole major player in the industry. Amazon and Hulu have significantly increased their presence, reaching highs of 13% and 6.5% respectively. At the same time, traditional entertainment companies like HBO, CBS, and Disney-ABC have launched direct-to-consumer platforms, flooding the gates with their premium IP. In this era of surplus, which has been described as a content bubble, creators, consumers, and brands all face one central issue: visibility.
Jonathan Taplin, Director of the USC Annenberg Innovation Lab, refers to this issue as the discovery problem, arguing that “the long tail is a myth.” As original and licensed IP expands its presence across platforms, media companies need to ensure discoverability in order to counter the limiting effects of oversaturation. To this end, navigation has effectively become the central KPI of the converging media and technology industry. In particular, user interface and experience design prove instrumental in connecting consumers with content. UI/UX design essentially structures the interaction and engagement with IP.
Initially, platforms emphasized search as the core logic of UX design in an effort to give consumers the ability to target personal interest. Yet, given the overabundance of choice, this pragmatic approach is no longer viable. YouTube’s search interface, for example, limits discovery to trending videos, effectively undermining a personalized viewing experience. YouTube’s recent efforts to premiumize content through the Red subscription service and acquisitions from film studios and TV networks appear as a drastic effort to update search by putting front and center what Taplin calls the shiny object, new mainstream content.
In drastic contrast to YouTube’s search model, Snapchat values intimate user networks by focusing on social connections, unique events, and exclusive access to IP (through its Discovery platform). Snapchat effectively works against the concept of search by purposefully limiting the visibility of content. As a result, the platform has built a reputation for under-the-radar experiences designed for the in-crowd. Obscurity is an integral part of the UX design which attracts young, digitally-savvy users.
Roku, meanwhile, aims for the mainstream by delivering a more advanced search logic focused on cross-platform development. The set-top box provides universal search capabilities across platforms that enable consumers to navigate the fragmented sphere of platform ecosystems. Roku hereby leverages its position as a strategic intermediate with no IP ownership to be more consumer-oriented — accordingly, the set-top player ranks as the most popular navigation device in the U.S., present in over 40% of domestic households with OTT access. Its search function is more of a utility in that it educates consumers about content availability and pricing across a network of providers. The Roku search basically works as an unbiased consumer guide.
Moving beyond search, discovery proves to be the integral part of navigation. While Netflix has developed a complex system of user-focused recommendations, the platform lacks social capabilities to drive more context-based matches between consumers and IP. By contrast, Facebook’s evolving video strategy is entirely focused on establishing connections between user profiles and comprehensive social contexts. While Netflix has big data on the audience as viewers, Facebook can leverage information on the audience as people. This 360-degree perspective enriches the discovery process by adding unprecedented layers of granular user data — which are likely to extend into VR as the headsets penetrate the mainstream. Furthermore, the enhanced data capabilities have also led to an influx of social influencers on Facebook (and, by extension, an ongoing exodus from YouTube). These power users drive organic reach on the platform, especially among younger demographics.
Yet, throughout, IP holders remain somewhat limited by the scope of their own ecosystem and their lack of cross-platform integration. The same applies to brands who venture into content distribution (i.e. Dove launched an app on Roku) and one-off production (i.e. Chipotle’s Farmed and Dangerous Hulu show). Their content discovery is, by design, limited to their own central platform. For example, Amazon is dedicated to pushing content through its Fire TV platform in order to bolster e-commerce sales — this strategy is meticulously designed to include contextualized short-form video content on product pages that gives consumers an organic purchasing experience (a key example is the use of Tastemade food videos to sell a blender). However, the recent announcement to bundle content from other IP holders positions Amazon as an intermediate that grants access to a growing content catalog. Amazon could evolve into a meta-navigation hub for consumers seeking easy access to content.
Ultimately, media companies and brands need to consider the far-reaching effects of navigation as they design on-demand content offerings for digital consumers. The user experience must not only be functional, it also needs to be engaging. Navigation is not just a gateway to content anymore, it has become an integral part of the overall content experience. As distribution channels and audience segments continue to fragment, navigation thus lies at the core of the media industry’s marketing logic.
To read more about the evolving digital media industry, see our Fans.Passions.Brands research in collaboration with USC’s Annenberg Innovation Lab and Havas Sports & Entertainment. The research explores dynamic audience segmentation to empower fans to connect more organically with their favorite pastime — the study focused on sports and music. Furthermore, our ongoing Future of Storytelling research with UCLA’s School of Theater, Film, and Television focuses on the evolution of UI and UX design in the context of new media platforms. The research will empower brands to adopt best-in-class communication practices on these platforms (paid media and shared media) and optimize their own media platforms (owned media).
Written by Thomas Jorion and Matthias Stork
