SAMIR SHAH

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NBC TV APPS

The growing popularity of OTT or direct to consumer apps and platforms presented the company with a strong opportunity to showcase our video content. Even if a viewer missed the nightly newswcast they would now have an opportunity to catch up from the comfort of their living room in a non-linear on demand fashion.

I led the end-to-end design of an Apple TV app leveraging our internal iOS team already developing other products. I partnered with internal stakeholders including tech, editorial, ad sales and broadcasting to create a intiutive and informative experience that also had strong ties to the on-air broadcast.

The Apple TV app launched in 2018 with Roku in 2019 and an upcoming Fire TV version in 2020.

Role Design Lead
Timeframe 2018 - current
VISUAL DESIGN

NEWS & WEATHER
anyway you want it

FEATURE HIGHLIGHT

ANIMATED NEWS OPEN

Working with our broadcast partners the design team came up with custom splash screens unique to each market. Viewers turned users will feel right at home with a brand they trust.

Project Vision and Plan (MVP)

A simple and intuitive experience that is as visually rich as our television heritage, creates compelling connections between broadcast and digital, and adapts to user behaviors and viewing habits across day parts, and during breaking news, weather and events.

DEFINING SCOPE

Features/sections in scope

  • Weather
  • Splash Screens
  • Continuous Play
  • Settings (Privacy Policy, Autoplay on/off, etc)
  • In-App Search
  • L1 + L2 Navigation
  • Autoplay
  • Pre-roll

Features out of scope

  • Onboarding
  • Personalization
  • Live TV
  • Interactive Radar
WHO ARE OUR USERS

Passive or Active / day parts

NBC New York users are most likely to be actively viewing in the morning. The evening (8-11pm) not only attracts the largest audience, but the most active viewership.

OTT usage spikes in the evening across, although about 20% say they currently use their OTT device in the early morning, indicating OTT opportunity in the morning as well. Most morning viewing is more passive, while active OTT viewing spikes at night. That said, nearly half of NBC New York users say they are actively watching an OTT device in the morning.

INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE

Card Sorting

In order to categorize content in a way that made sense to our users as well as from a workflow perspective, a card sorting excercise with our UX designers and editorial team was essential. This influenced the navigation and screen flow and gave the product team a starting point when working on the architecture.

INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE

Screen Flow

WIREFRAMES

Interaction Design

WIREFRAMES

LAYOUT AND HEIRARCHY

ITERATE

WATCHING BEHAVIORS

Users fall on a spectrum from wanting to immediately watch what is featured or recommended vs. already knowing the specific story or content they want to watch. A successful OTT experience must satisfy these different user goals and provide clear pathways to access and watch content with the least amount of friction.

This mindset changes at various times for any given user, therefore the architecture should reflect these user goals at any time.

VISUAL DESIGN

CUES FROM APP DESIGN SYSTEM

Before visual design begins, understanding how this fits into the larger product portfolio is something the team was tasked to achieve. Although this is a new product, having cross over on iconography, typography and colors helps carry over a visual identity that we hope our users will naturally recognize in time.

VISUAL DESIGN

COLOR AND TYPE

VISUAL DESIGN

Broadcast Inspiration

VISUAL DESIGN

WEATHER DESIGN ITERATIONS

USER TESTING

REMOTE PROTOTYPE

USER TESTING

XCODE PROTOTYPE

SOME KEY TESTING TAKEAWAYS

Overall Design - Users on both platforms enjoyed the overall look and feel of the app. Immediate and significant increase in video views and completions. Longer time spent watching multiple videos in part due to continuous play.

Weather - Most users preferred Current Conditions weather and wanted a full day’s scope. Some users preferred a video forecast. For the majority of users on both platforms current conditions such as hourly are important.

Autoplay - Some users mistook the video for live video as a result of autoplay. Users want to be in control of their content on first load and not have video autoplay.

RESULTS AND NEXT STEPS

1-3 Videos consumed per visit, 43% of users consume weather content, 80% of users returned within the first month.

After the initial launch the number one request from users was the option to watch Live TV. That feature was added in the 1.6 release of the app during the COVID crisis in April 2020.

The 2.0 Release of the app will focus on the UI enhancements and left over tech and design bugs. In addition the team is working on an improved video browsing experience, playlists, saved vidoes and an intelligent sidebar with contextual content.

Part of the 2020 LMA’s News Innovators of the Year