Deciding what to watch on OTT platform: Case Study
UX Research project | OTT | Case Study
Nowadays, watching a movie or a tv program with relatives is not common as everyone has their preferences. As a result, people like to watch movies/shows on their phones or computers. Whether it’s MX Player, Amazon Prime, or Netflix, the platform you’re using is an OTT platform.
Choosing what to watch with so many options available, people tend to get confused and might close the OTT.
Hereby, I present a case study analyzing the issues and providing some possible solutions to them.
Business Problem Statement
With the Pandemic and the Lockdown, there has been an increase in the audience watching shows and movies on OTT platforms. People tend to get very confused with a large number of options available. An OTT app wants to make it easier for people to decide what to watch.
Research Problem Statement
Deciding what to watch on an OTT platform has become very confusing for the audience. As a UX designer, you first want to understand the behavior of people trying to choose what they want to watch and the different factors that influence the decision. Plan research to identify the behavioral patterns to help the business cater to users in an efficient way.
Base App: Hotstar
An OTT platform wants to reduce the number of options for movies and shows to make it easier for the user to choose.
Research problem statement guides us to empathize with the OTT audience and find out their behavioral patterns of watching movies and shows on the OTT platform so that the number of options can be reduced.
PLAN OF ACTION
- Understanding the Problem Statement
- Secondary Research
- Primary Research
- Analyze the Data
- Define and Ideate
- Wireframing: Ideate for Solutions
- UI Design Stage
- Usability Testing
Design process
I used the double diamond process to solve the problem area.
- Discover: Understand the issue rather than merely assuming it. It involves speaking to and spending time with people who are affected by the issues.
- Define: The insight gathered from the discovery phase can help to define the challenge differently.
- Develop: Give different answers to the clearly defined problem, seek inspiration from elsewhere, and co-designing with a range of different people.
- Deliver: Involves testing out different solutions at a small scale, rejecting those that will not work and improving the ones that will.
UNDERSTANDING THE PROBLEM STATEMENT
There were a lot of questions on my mind after reading the Business and Research Problem Statements, for a better understanding and to dig deep to the core of the problem I started to write down the questions that came to my mind. These questions were the 5Ws and 1H questions.
5Ws and 1H (When, Where, Who, What, Why, and How) to understand the problem statement
The 5Ws and 1H questions help dig deep into the user problems, without digging deep in it, there will be a broad perspective towards looking into the user problems. To narrow down the problem statement, it is necessary to dig deeper and understand the user to its core.
The problem statement just tells you the area where the research is needed but after digging it deeper I could understand which part I could work upon to solve user problems.
- Who is the audience?
- Who gets confused while choosing the right movie/show?
- What kind of audience is there? (pay for subscriptions, watch the free shows, borrow someone else’s subscriptions)
- What affects the audience’s choice to pick up a show or movie?
- What genre do they like to watch?
- Where do they watch it on? (phone, laptop, tv, etc.) Why?
- When do they watch the OTT platform?
- How do they decide what to watch?
- How do they select the OTT platform?
- How can I reduce the options available on OTT platforms?
We can’t understand the mindset of users unless we think of ourselves as the user.
You ≠User
SECONDARY RESEARCH
Desk Research
I started reading some articles which could answer my above questions. Desk research helps to understand the behavior of the users and also get some factual and statistical data of an already existing research.
Insights from Desk Research
- OTT services will continue to dominate, even in a post-COVID19 world.
- Release via OTT channels can eliminate the threat of piracy production houses currently face in India.
- The demand for high-quality content is increasing every day as the common person can access OTT platforms from their home.
- Theatres will soon become an exclusive or luxury experience as audiences can watch the hot new releases as well as the classics on a combination of OTT and DTH from the comfort of their own homes at the fraction of the price.
- An EY-FICCI report found
- Hotstar has a 70 percent share when it comes to video streaming app downloads, Voot has 11 percent, Amazon Prime 5 percent, and Netflix 1.4 percent. And understandably so, say analysts. Hotstar has a mix of both Hindi and English content, a strong focus on cricket, and shows from the Star TV network.
- The number of people watching OTT increased when Reliance Jio entered the market and provided cheap internet plans.
source:https://yourstory.com/2019/01/content-language-india-ott-bharat/amp
- In this age of technological development, consumers have become more conscious about their price for services.
- OTT viewers do not have to worry about missing out on the continuation of their favorite shows.
- These services are available across different devices (smartphones, laptops, and televisions).
source:https://www.vdocipher.com/blog/2018/08/ott-india-revolution-vod/
- There are 9 types of OTT viewers in India. To know more click the link below.
PRIMARY RESEARCH
I did primary research to understand my users on a personal level, also to verify some of the insights from secondary research. But before starting with the user interview I had to define my users and prepare a few reference questions for the interview.
Defining the users
A Target audience was set before the primary research to give a certain direction to the research and narrow down the data got from the secondary research.
Finding the users
Recruiting the users on social media or anyone apart from family and close friends helps to get unbiased insights.
For finding my users I prepared a google form. I posted the form on my social media accounts.
Here is the link for the google form: https://forms.gle/d9BQWrKimd6NGbtu8
Do’s and don’ts
I prepared a short set of rules to be followed while interviewing the users.
Insights from the user interviews
User 1
- If the video starts buffering then users might not continue to watch the video.
- Will need suggestions from friends and family so that they can watch so that they do not have to search more.
- Will be willing to pay for subscriptions to watch movies and shows on that OTT channel.
- Will use mobile phones for shorter duration videos and laptops for longer duration videos.
- Will not watch if there is no familiar face in the movie or show.
- There should be something familiar when we open the OTT so that the user is willing to scroll down.
User 2
- People do subscribe to OTT for live matches and then do not watch any other thing on it.
- Likes to watch movies and shows in high quality, will not compromise with low quality.
- If video buffers a lot will stop watching it but will not compromise with the quality.
- Recommendations from others are needed to watch something.
- Netflix is expensive.
- Will open what interests them more.
- Do not like suggestions of videos they have already seen.
User 3
- Recommendations are a must.
- Can also go with IMDb ratings.
- The OTT channel that will be chosen will be the one the person is habitual of watching.
- Native language movies should have a whole different section.
- If an interesting movie/show is going on they can wait till it stops buffering, but if the movie/ show is not very interesting then they may switch to another movie/ show.
- Eye focuses more on what they have already watched or what they are recommended to watch.
User 4
- Likes recommendations also like to explore different movies and shows.
- Ratings cannot be trusted.
- Adding movies and series to my list helps to not to search more when one series or movie has ended.
- Thumbnails and names should be interesting.
- Social media also helps select a movie or series.
- Downloading a movie prevents buffering.
Overall insights from users
Some of my users need suggestions to watch movies or series, and some of them like to explore.
Subscriptions are often taken only to watch live sports.
Some of my users like to see ratings for the movie before watching and some do not believe in ratings.
Native movies and series should have a completely different section.
The thumbnails and name of the movie should be interesting.
Short clips of movies and series on social media drive my user to watch them.
ANALYSING THE DATA
After collecting all the insights through secondary and primary research, I started to analyze the data and created user sets, empathy maps, and personas.
User Sets
I made user sets after I saw a pattern in my user interviews.
RECOMMENDATION-SEEKERS
Users in this user set are the ones who always need recommendations from friends before watching anything on OTTs.SELF-EXPLORERS
These people like to explore more of the new movies and series by themselves.
Empathy Mapping
After making the user sets I started to make the empathy maps. Empathy maps help to understand the user behavior and attitude concerning the product. It represents what a user says, thinks, does, and feels.
Recommendation-seekers
Self-Explorers
Persona
Personas are made to connect more with the users and can be used as a reference across the project.
Recommendation Seekers & Self-Explorers
DEFINE AND IDEATE
Now, that I have made the empathy maps and personas I have got the pain points of my users. With the help of them, I wrote down How Might We (HMW) questions and then did my ideation to resolve the problems.
Q: How might we narrow down the list of options for the users?
- Analyze and show their preferred genres, directors, actors, movies, and shows.
- Add the movies to your Wishlist, and watch whenever you want.
- Lower down the sections with the ones which are familiar to them.
- Add stories section where users can see short clips of the movies and series and select what they want to watch.
- While signing up a questionnaire can be displayed to understand the users’ preferences.
Q: How might we connect friends so that people don’t have to call their friends every time before watching anything?
- Can link all the contacts with the OTT.
- Like and rating option- anyone who has his contact can see the ratings and can decide to watch it or not.
Q: How might we provide a movie to a user without requiring a subscription?
- Buy movies from that OTT at a cheaper price for a few days.
Ideas I went forward with:
Idea 1
Stories - Add a stories section to the app where the users can see short clips of 15 - 30 seconds of different movies and series and decide if they are interested in watching it or not.
Idea 2
Questionnaire - A short questionnaire can be displayed while signing up to understand the preferences of the users and provide suggestions as per their preferences.
Idea 3
Link contacts - Contacts of the user can be linked with the OTT and the user will be able to see how many people from his contacts liked a particular movie or series.
Idea 4
Ratings - IMDb ratings can be added so that users can straight away check the ratings and decide to watch the movie or not.
Idea 5
Buy movie - A buy movie option can be added so that the users do not have to take a complete subscription of the OTT to watch a single movie and series.
WIREFRAMING
After ideating I moved forward to make wireframes for my ideas.
I first started to make rough paper wireframes so that all my ideas could be down on paper before I forget them. After that, I started to make my wireframes on Figma.
Iteration 1:
Wireframes created in Figma
Image 1 asks for permission to access the contacts of the user.
Image 2 shows the like and rating option. It shows where the like and rating will be placed.
Image 3 also shows the like and rating option, but it shows how like and rating will be placed when a user opens a movie description.
Image 4 is the likes page. It will show who liked the movie.
Image 5 is the categories that will appear when we scroll down image 2.
Iteration 2
I again created paper wireframes 1st and they were fairer this time.
Wireframes made with Figma
Changes I made in this iteration:
- Added a questionnaire.
- Added stories section.
UI DESIGN
After all these iterations in the wireframes, I started to make the UI screens.
Image 1 - Questionnaire
This is a short questionnaire for the users. This will help the app to understand the users and display more of the content as per the user preferences, and reduce the number of options to watch on the app.
Question 1 asks for language preferences.
Question 2 asks for genre preferences
Question 3 is asked to know if the user would watch in another language than the preferred one with subtitles. If yes then question 4 applies.
Question 4 is asked to understand in which language they are comfortable seeing the subtitles.
The AI will search for the movies and series which have the preferred language subtitles and display them for suggestions too.
Users can select multiple options for questions 1, 2, and 4.
Assumption: Users will select YES for question 3.
If the users select NO for question 3, the questionnaire will end there and question 4 will not be displayed.
Image 2 - Permission to Access Contacts
This screen will help the users to import their contacts into the app.
Assumption: Users will click on ALLOW.
If they DENY the number of likes in the next screens will appear to be zero.
Image 3
Here I have added a section of short clips. These short clips are like stories on Instagram, but they will play for a little bit longer period than the stories on Instagram. (for 15–30sec)
It will display short clips of movies and serials on Hotstar.
These clips might help users to decide what to watch.
Also, I have added the feature of likes and ratings.
The like feature is denoted by red hearts. This feature depicts a number of people from contacts who liked the movie or serial.
The rating feature is denoted by a yellow star. This feature depicts the IMDb ratings.
Assumption: Users have clicked on ALLOW in the previous screen.
If the users DENY then the number of likes will always show zero.
Image 4
On this screen, I have shown how and where the likes and rating option will be placed when we open the details of the movie.
Image 5
This screen simply shows the people who liked the movie/ serial from the user’s contacts.
Image 6
In this screen, I have added different categories as per the preferences of the user and what they have watched till date.
This will help the users to select what to watch easily.
Assumption: The user is watching the OTT for some time.
Image 7
I added a button ‘Buy a movie so that the users can easily go and buy a movie and not a complete subscription.
Image 8
1st screen depicts the prices for purchasing the movie
2nd screen is the search page where the user will search and select the movie he wants to purchase.
Image 9
1st screen depicts the prices for purchasing the series
2nd screen is the search page where the user will search and select the series he wants to purchase.
USABILITY TESTING
After completing the UI, I did usability testing with the real users. It helped me to create a better experience for the users.
User 1
- The last 2 questions of the questionnaire are irrelevant.
- He already understood there are four questions.
- He liked the like feature, but referring to the IMDb ratings is his last option.
- Short clips are the first thing he wanted to click when he saw it. He found it like stories on Instagram.
- He did not like the ‘watch in your language’ category as he has already selected at the beginning which languages he watches in.
- He liked the ‘Akshay Kumar specials’ category
- He did not like the ‘because you watched____’ category because he does not like to watch something similar to what he recently watched.
- Earlier he did not like the option to buy a movie but when he saw the movies at a cheap rate then he was willing to buy a movie.
User 2
- There should be a skip option in the questionnaire.
- She is not willing to give permission for accessing the contacts.
- Short clips are another source of entertainment for her.
- She found the likes and ratings feature helpful.
- She wants the like feature to be general and not only of the contacts.
- The like screen is not necessary.
- Buy a movie option is didn’t attract her.
- She liked the pricing of the movies and series and is willing to use the feature if it ever comes up on OTT.
User 3
- She found the last two questions irrelevant.
- She does not prefer short clips as she already has them on Instagram. She hasn’t come here to watch short clips.
- She liked the likes and rating feature on the top of the posters as she doesn’t need to click on every movie and check the same.
- She did not find the like page relevant.
- She liked the categories as it will become easier to look for something to watch.
- She found the pricing of the movies and series very reasonable, and the benefits provided are great.
User 4
- He found the questions relevant
- He wanted a skip option for the questionnaire.
- He allowed for the permission because there are apps that do not work properly till you don’t allow the permissions.
- He found the short clips feature irrelevant as he didn’t come on the ott for short clips he wants to watch something longer.
- He did not understand the like feature on screen 6.
- He wanted that there should be a feature of liked videos where he can see which videos he has liked earlier.
- He did not like the like screen, he found it irrelevant.
- The categories formed are nothing new as they are formed everywhere on every OTT.
- He wanted the ‘buy a movie’ option in the movie details of the movie screen itself (Image 4)
Final UI (after iteration)
I made all the necessary changes from the feedback I got from usability testing.
Image 10
I added the skip option so that if the user does not want to answer any question they can skip it.
Image 11
Users were not able to identify the reason for the permission to access their contacts. So I added a reason for the permission.
Image 12
The like and rating option was not visible properly since it was not contrasting enough. I added a gradient on the bottom to highlight the like and rating option.
Image 13
I added a ‘Buy Movie’ option on the movie description screen so that users can be directed to image 8 directly from the description page.
I also removed the likes screen i.e. Image 5
REALISATION
The buy movie and series screens that I made were not related to the problem statement.
I found this problem while interviewing my users that they have to take complete subscriptions even which goes waste as they do not watch that OTT again. So I solved this problem.
Later, I realized that this was not the problem I had to solve.
KEY LEARNINGS
Get back to the problem statement after every stage so that you do not deviate from the problem statement.
Make your users comfortable with you to get better insights.
Thank You for your kind attention!
If you have any feedback, suggestions or just want to share or ask something, drop a mail to me: guptaniharika2426@gmail.com
Feel free to reach out to me on LinkedIn.