Netflix Beacons
Enhancing the Netflix experience - watch with friends!
Context
Sometimes life gets in the way of spending time with loved ones (travel, long-distance relationships, illness, etc.), and sometimes people just want to be social without having to leave the house. Despite Netflix being the largest streaming platform, there is currently no way to watch shows or movies with friends/family, let alone any kind of social feature. Beacons aims to inject added value into the Netflix platform, increasing user retention and giving new users even more of a reason to subscribe to Netflix over similar competitors.
Solution
Netflix Beacons is a social feature add-on to Netflix, which allows users to setup watch parties. These parties can be setup in advance (particular day/time), or created live on the spot. The user can also allow Beacons, a feature which lets your friends know what you’re watching and allows them to jump in at-will to watch together.
Add friends
Search for friends, family, acquaintances, and anyone else you would like to add!
See who’s online - join in!
See who’s online, what they’re watching (if privacy settings allow), and join in at-will (if Beacons is enabled [icon next to Kare]).
Create a watch party
The user can create a watch party - schedule for future events, or start live as soon as the user is ready!
Watch, chat, vote and have
fun!
Users can watch together, chat (chat is collapsible if they choose to focus on watching instead of chatting), and vote on such things as taking breaks, passing the host if the host chooses to retire, etc.
Market Research
All major streaming services lack any kind of social feature, e.g., Amazon, Hulu, Crunchyroll, Disney, Discovery+, etc. Other platforms such as YouTube and Twitch, which allow users to watch others play games, chat, etc., shows a lucrative market for such content, as well as the popularity of things such as reaction videos on YouTube. There are lesser known services to be able to watch such streaming services together, such as TeleParty, WatchNetflixTogether, etc. However, Netflix dominates the market and is by far the most popular streaming app, and the lack of such a feature leaves much to be desired on the platform.
User Interviews
Users love watching with friends!
Going into the interview process, I really wanted to get the root of why, when, where and with who users watched programs with. What was the feeling of showing a new show to their friends? What was exciting about having a friend show them a new show? What feelings did they get when watching media with the ones they cared about (excitement, happiness, etc..?)
I've tried it once where where Netflix did that group thing and you all had to be in there to watch it and it was cool, especially for during COVID.
I think I've hosted something similar on Zoom where I would try to stream something
I think the idea is interesting because you can make it a fun activity and can watch at the same time and all be on the same episode.
Qualitative understandings
100% of interviewees said they can’t watch with friends like before
Due to various things such as time constraints, stress, etc., they can’t visit and watch with friends/family as much as before
Everyone agreed they preferred watching in-person together
Watching online cannot replace watching together in-person, however, participants agreed that it is a suitable replacement when necessary.
100% of interviewees said they enjoy talking about movies/shows
All participants said they enjoy discussing the various happenings in the shows and movies they saw with friends/family, etc.
Takeaways
Remote viewing "parties" can never replace the act of watching something together in-person, however, it is useful in certain situations. Some people said they tried remote viewing for the first time during the pandemic. There are also other cases, such as traveling frequently for work and wanting to spend time with your significant other. Adding a native feature to an app such as Netflix doesn't harm users who choose not to use it, however it does increase value for those who choose to use it - with the constant rate hikes, it's injecting a new feature into an app and giving the users more value for their dollar, and taking nothing away from people who choose not to use it.
Opportunities
After understanding users’ core needs and pain points, I began to ask myself a few key questions in order to further improve the users’ experience, as well increase Netflix’s revenue and continue their market dominance.
How might we...
How might we let friends, family and loved ones who cannot physically be together watch TV and movies together?
How might we inject added value into Netflix, increase user retention as well as increase users’ joy?
These opportunities lead to the following hypothesis for a feature...
Hypothesis
Enabling users to watch Netflix with friends and family while not in the same physical location will inject added value into the platform, as well as create joy and community amongst users.
User Flows
Creating 4 key users flows
The ideation process resulted in the development of 3 key user flows which would address the main scenarios users would encounter while interacting with the addition.
Add a friend
Set up a party watch
Voting system
Pass the host (iterated in Hi-Fi)
Design
Make it intuitive!
Add a friend
As I brainstormed adding in these additional features, I knew that I wanted them to be as noninvasive as possible, because people are so used to using Netflix as a platform, anything too out there would be off-putting to the users.
The Netflix interface has remained identical, except for the addition of the “Friend” icon - it shows how many friends are online, and when clicked, shows who and what they are watching (if their privacy settings allow.) Clicking see all brings the user to the friend page, where they can search and add friends.
Set up a party watch: Step 1
Again, being as minimally invasive as possible here - when hovering over a movie or show, the exact layout as Netflix appears, however with the minor addition of the “group” icon.
Set up a party watch: Step 2
Upon clicking the group icon, the user is met with this pop-up. The user can choose between a scheduled or live event, which episode to choose (N/A if movie), which friends to choose, date, time, etc.
Voting system
I remember I used to play Counter-Strike, and they had basic chat vote commands for stuff like changing maps, so I recalled that and wanted to implement something similar. Someone has to take a bathroom break? Vote to pause! Done for the night? Vote to stop and pick it up another time!
High Fidelity Solution
After testing my Lo-Fi prototype and getting some solid results, I started on my Hi-Fi solutions and prototype.
Usability Testing
"The design feels similar to what Netflix would have!"
80% of users said the idea was great, and the user flows were easy to use and intuitive. 2 users struggled with certain tasks, and after analyzing the results, I went on to iterating to make the project as good as it could be!
“Cool idea! The flow was intuitive!”
“I really like the idea and features.”
“Overall easy and inuitive to use!”
Iterations
It’s the little things
Following the usability testing and mentor feedback, I began implementing minor adjustments that would overall increase user satisfaction, including changing names of certain buttons (“Vote” to “Actions”), better visibility for floating button in chat, etc.
Friend's page
Setting up a Party Watch
Paused show with timer when show will automatically resume
Floating chat idea
Conclusion and Learnings
This project was really fun for me - taking an existing product and adding something new and unexpected to it, as well as creating value for not only the customer but also the business. My goal was to work within the pre-established frameworks, and add a noninvasive, natural extension of the current systems - familiar, but also new and exciting, simple but surprising.
Next steps
There were a few ideas on this project I thought of, but didn’t have the chance to explore further, such as break-out rooms/camera functionality between episodes or after movies in order to chat/discuss what was just seen. Additionally, exploring more voting options to grant a more democratic atmosphere amongst users. Also, potentially some kind of system where friends can recommend shows/movies to friends, or have some sort of “blend” option such as Spotify, where users can see % possibility of like a movie/show based on mutual likes, etc.