Netflix Beacons is a conceptual, native feature that allows for friend's lists, setting up live, scheduled or recurring watch parties, as well as other quality of life features such as chatting, a voting system, and break-out rooms. The "Beacon" feature itself means the user can enable a Beacon, and their friends can jump into whatever they are watching together at-will, without invitation, as long as they are friends. The goal was to not only inject added value into the platform to maintain subscriptions, but to also increase revenue by adding new subscribers via a social element.
Making it intuitive
The main goal was to make the feature as seamless and intuitive as possible, as Netflix is an established platform that most people are already familiar with. It had to be added in a way that was easy to understand and use. The friend icon was nestled on the top nav bar next to pre-existing icons, creating an obvious yet non0invasive add-on. It shows how many friends are currently online, and clicking it has a drop-down friend menu. The icon next to Kare indicates she has enabled a beacon, meaning her friend's can jump in and watch what she is watching at-will. Clicking "see all" will open up the friend dashboard.
Friend dashboard. Users can customize their avatars and backgrounds for a little fun.
Making it fun
Of course, the feature needs to be FUN, or what's the point? There is a chat feature, so users can discuss what's happening live (can also be hidden if the user wants to focus on the show), vote feature (pause, stop the show), and pass the host - this is so if the host gets tired or wants to do something else, they can pass the host to someone else in the room to keep the party going!
Calling a vote for a bathroom break!
Floating text version to take up less real estate.
Passing the host.