COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE

1

2

TABLE OF CONTENTS

UX GoalsUser Focused OutcomesLandscapeCompetition Scorecard Summary

UX GOALS

+ PERSONAL & FRESH CONTENT+ MORE DISCOVER, LESS BROWSE+ MORE ORGANIZATION, LESS FILTERING+ SEAMLESS AND ANYWHERE+ “SNACKABLE” ENTERTAINMENT+ TAILORED EXPERIENCE PER DEVICE+ SIGNATURE MOBILE AND TABLET APPLICATIONS+ COMPANION EXPERIENCE+ EXTEND REACH OF CORE FEATURE SETS, E.G. DOWNLOAD ETC+ EASE OF RESUMING AND WATCHING NEWLY OWNED CONTENT+ REDESIGN HOME PAGE+ NDA REMINDERS FOR NEW EPISODES+ MAKE IT EASY FOR THE USER TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THEIR OWN TASTE+ SHORT FORM, FREE CONTENT ON MOBILE DEVICES+ “GRACEFUL DERESOLUTION” FOR SLOWER DEVICES

3

USER FOCUSED OUTCOMES

4

5

USER FOCUSED OUTCOMESIt’s easy to personalize

Tailor content to my device

I like to discover excitingcontent

I always discover new

features

I like

short formcontent

Work well on my high speed & low speed devices

It doesn’t clutterup my TV

It’s easy to

play/resume media across my devices

LANDSCAPE

6

7

APPLE

8

Apple | Exploration + Discovery Desktop

Notes

1) Snackable content (clips) on the film detail page enables users to make informed decis-sions pre rental/purchase.

2) Related tab has the following filters “View-ers also bought”, “More by these actors”, “More by this director”, and “Top movies by genre”.

3) Movie homepage content is organized by genres, promotions, lists and popularity. Discovering content within a bucket is difficult because it relies heaviliy on a horizontal scroll. The content buckets do not have a horizontal scroll requiring signifigant mouse travel to explore. 4) The quick links jump menu is a handy tool for content discovery. It includes “ Top All-Time Movies”, “Oscar Winners” and “New Releases”.

The “Top Movies” & “Top Indie Movies” section pushes trending movies based on popularity. Below “Top Movies” & “Top Indie Movies”, iTunes shows “Browse by Rating” and “Collec-tions”.

SummaryiTunes has a large content catalog with powerful functionality. Related content is realitively easy to find. Browsing sets of content is cumbersome because Apple only supports horizontal scrolling. This content pagination method requires significant mouse travel.

Score

B

2

2

4

3

1

Top Line Summary

What’s Working• Large catalog• Short form content like extras, clips and trailers• Genius recommendations (not perfect)• Editorial programs• Exploration filters• How they merchandize trailers• Device continuity

What’s Not Working• Lack of algorithmic discovery• Thick content navigational hierarchy. Cumbersome to traverse and explore TV & Movie content• Lack of personalization

Score

B-

9

10

Apple | Exploration + Discovery Desktop

Notes

1) Snackable content (clips) on the film detail page enables users to make informed deci-sions pre rental/purchase.

2) Related tab has the following filters “View-ers also bought”, “More by these actors”, “More by this director”, and “Top movies by genre”.

3) Movie homepage content is organized by genres, promotions, lists and popularity. Discovering content within a bucket is difficult because it relies heavily on a hori-zontal scroll. The content buckets do not have a horizontal scroll requiring significant mouse travel to explore. 4) The quick links jump menu is a handy tool for content discovery. It includes “ Top All-Time Movies”, “Oscar Winners” and “New Releases”.

The “Top Movies” & “Top Indie Movies” section pushes trending movies based on popularity. Below “Top Movies” & “Top Indie Movies”, iTunes shows “Browse by Rating” and “Collec-tions”.

SummaryiTunes has a large content catalog with powerful functionality. Related content is relatively easy to find. Browsing sets of content is cumbersome because Apple only supports horizontal scrolling. This content pagination method requires significant mouse travel.

Score

B

2

2

4

3

1

11

Apple | Exploration + Discovery Mobile

Notes

1) Featured content is organized by genres, promotions, lists, and popularity. Promotion tile rotates featured titles.2) Under the “More” menu users can access the “Apple Genius” recommendations feature.3) Chart page sorts movie titles by popularity. Users can filter popular films by genre.4) “Related” tab displays one content bucket “Customers Also Bought”.5) Snackable content (clips) on the film detail page enables users to make informed decisions pre rental/purchase.

Missed opportunities• Surface genius recommendations on the root media page. • Phones are more conducive to short form content, iTunes could improve user engagement by scattering snackable content throughout the app. • Apple doesn’t have a concept of a mixed aggregated launch page or a “My media”. All content is siloed into Music, Movies, and TV Shows

What’s cool• Short form content like trailers, extras, clips, and featurettes.• Search. Users can search by soundtrack, title, genre, actor, and editorial categories

SummaryiTunes app is light and device appropriate. Some desktop functionality has been removed to accommodate the small screen. Content browsing feels easier on the app vs the desktop.

Score

B -

1

2

3 4

5

12

Apple | Exploration + Discovery Living Room

Notes

1) People that watched X also watched Z2) More button simply scrolls the content into hidden tabs (reviews, actor info, director info, producer info, screenwriters)3) By selecting a actor Apple TV displays all of the actors filmography.4) By selecting Director, Producer or Screen-writer, Apple TV displays associated media.

Missed opportunities• Genius recommendations are buried home>movies>genius. A better solution would be to merchandize personalized recommenda-tions on the home screen.• The search experience does not allow users to search across all media types – i.e. users would not be able to search for an actor and get TV and Movie results.• Home screen is heavily focused on apps vs personalized content. A better solution would be to truncate apps and maximize media content. • The search experience feels like it can be simplified. For example, the caps, special characters, and recent tab feels overly com-plex relative to other LR UX.

SummaryOverall Apple TV is a good experience. Apple TV shines in a few key areas – airplay, related content on the media detail page, large movie posters on the categorical filtering, and lack of clutter.

12

4

3

Score

C

13

Apple | Continuity Across Device

Notes

DesktopThe desktop UX offers more in terms of functionality. Horizontal scrolling content paginating is unique, all other platforms have a horizontal carousel.

TabletFor the most part the iOS tablet app isconsistent with the desktop and mobile UX.

SmartphoneGenerally speaking, the iOS app is consistent with the desktop and tablet. Some features are not available on the iOS app. For example, the wish list feature is not available.

Living RoomApple TV UX is the most unique.

Noticable difference include • Nomenclature• Related movies by actors, related movies by director, related movies by producer, related movies by screenwriter, • Adding/removing wish list• Minimized subnav menu• Pagination carousel and “•••• “ panel position indicator• Different visual design affordances.

Score

A

AMAZON

14

Amazon | Exploration + Discovery Desktop

Notes

1) The “Most Popular” section is powerful and allows users to filter content by media type, new releases, purchase type, genre, actor, director, customer review rating, price, and decade 2) Navigtation is organized by popular genres, exclusives, etc. 3) Content merchandised in center column, organized in a series of horizontal carousels.4) Lists e.g IMDB Top Prime Movies, Top Prime TV Seasons.5) Related content is hidden in a hover context menu.6) Movie detail page includes recommendations like Customers that watched X also watched Z.

Missed opportunities• Desktop UX is not optimized for media brows-ing the UI feels very e-commerce driven and transactional.• Movie recommendations are not presented in a systematic way.• Too many call to actions on the content detail page. In a worse case scenario I’ve seen 5 call to actions buttons ranging from “Watch Now” to 4 different versions of the“1-Click to buy” buttons.

What’s cool• Rich UGC reviews. Amazon shines with reviews.• Large content catalog and original content. • Recommendations are very relevant, my guess is that at some point they might mine my e-commerce transactions and wish lists.• Great performance. • Offers VOD and Prime.

SummaryAmazon has a large content catalog with powerful filtering. Explicit searches are very good, conducting general browsing and media discovery can be frustrating and time consum-ing.

Score

C

2 3

4

2

63

1

5

Top Line Summary

What’s Working• Prime and VOD• Large catalog including original content• Rich exploration filters (mainly on desktop UX)• Search & reviews• Cloud and device streaming

What’s Not Working• Lack of algorithmic discovery • Lack of personalization (except on desktop UX)• Lacking short form content• Desktop UX (optimized for checkout vs entertainment)• Difficult to resume media across platform• UX continuity

Score

C+

15

16

Amazon | Exploration + Discovery Desktop

Notes

1) The “Most Popular” section is powerful and allows users to filter content by media type, new releases, purchase type, genre, actor, director, customer review rating, price, and decade 2) Navigtation is organized by popular genres, exclusives, etc. 3) Content merchandised in center column, organized in a series of horizontal carousels.4) Lists e.g IMDB Top Prime Movies, Top Prime TV Seasons.5) Related content is hidden in a hover context menu.6) Movie detail page includes recommendations like Customers that watched X also watched Z.

Missed opportunities• Desktop UX is not optimized for media brows-ing the UI feels very e-commerce driven and transactional.• Movie recommendations are not presented in a systematic way.• Too many call to actions on the content detail page. In a worse case scenario I’ve seen 5 call to actions buttons ranging from “Watch Now” to 4 different versions of the“1-Click to buy” buttons.

What’s cool• Rich UGC reviews. Amazon shines with reviews.• Large content catalog and original content. • Recommendations are very relevant, my guess is that at some point they might mine my e-commerce transactions and wish lists.• Great performance. • Offers VOD and Prime.

SummaryAmazon has a large content catalog with powerful filtering. Explicit searches are very good, conducting general browsing and media discovery can be frustrating and time consum-ing.

Score

C

2 3

4

2

63

1

5

17

Amazon | Exploration + Discovery Mobile

Notes

1) Content recommendations, editorial features, and promotions are surfaced on the homepage. Users can easily flick through media via horizon-tal carousels. 2) From home>Your Watch list users can toggle filter Watch list by Movies or TV. Additionally users can sort by Most Popular, Date Added, or Title.3) The sort by Genre features basically acts like a main navigation.

Missed opportunities• Amazon mobile doesn’t really have smart recommendations based on your media consumption. Many of the “Featured” categories are pre-canned.• There is a lack of snackable short form content. It would be good to merchandise this type of content on the home screen.• Lacks personalization. The desktop UX has “Recently Watched” and recommendations based on my content consumption.• The navigation is somewhat confusing. If a user navigates from home>Your Watch list and then selects Genre they can traverse to other areas of the app. This is confusing because the other push buttons to the right filter content within your Watch list. It would be better to re-label Genres to something that sounds more like a main navigation interaction or use some-thing like a 3 bar icon.

What’s cool• Search. Users can search by title, genre, actor, and editorial categories. • Filtering is straight forward and powerful.• Toggle between cloud and device library.• UGC i.e. reviews.

SummaryiTunes app is light and device appropriate. Some desktop functionality has been removed to accommodate the small screen. Content browsing feels easier on the app vs the desktop.

12

3

Score

B

18

Amazon | Exploration + Discovery Living Room

Notes

Home screen displays search, your watch list, prime instant videos, movies, TV, video library, deals and recommendations.

1) Movie page displays popular content, editorial content, filtering by editor’s picks, filtering by genre. 2) Movies page on the Playstation displays categories like popular movies, popular prime movies, editors choice, new releases top rentals and recently watched.

Missed opportunities• Search results are not optimized for the screen real estate. On both Roku and Playsta-tion results display in 1 long row.

What’s cool• Easy to resume TV and movies content• UGC i.e. reviews.

SummaryOverall the Amazon Living Room UX is well done. Recommendations, editor’s Picks, recently watched media and the content filtering make discovery and exploration intuitive and fast.

1

2

Score

B

19

Amazon | Continuity Across Device

Notes

DesktopAcross the Amazon ecosystem the living room & desktop UX are the most unique. The desktop UX has an entirely different visual language and in some cases a different content taxonomy. The video pages are very dense with a loose visual hierarchy.

TabletThe Amazon tablet UX is closely aligned with the smartphone UX. Minor difference include episodic content surfaced in a modal on tablet, tablet supports portrait and landscapeorientation and nav positioning.

SmartphoneThe Amazon smartphone UX is closely aligned with the tablet UX. Minor difference would be that the smart phone does not support land-scape orientation.

Living RoomAcross the Amazon ecosystem the living room & desktop UX are the most unique. On the Roku browsing is similar to Netflix. Content is in a 4 column layout with multiple long rows. The UX on PS3 and XBOX 360 are very similar but very different than the Roku UX.

Score

B

NETFLIX

20

Netflix | Exploration + Discovery Desktop

Notes

1) On the Netflix homepage Netflix prominently shows the last movie a user watched, prompts them to review the title, then Netflix surfaces up 3 movie recommendations.

The first half of the Netflix homepage is centered around personalization and user content consumption, the last half of the page is dedi-cated to canned categories like new releases, popular titles, and genres. 2) Related content is surfaced at the bottom of the media detail page. Users paginate through sets of content via a mouse hover.3) Users can filter catalog by clicking cast, genres, director and categories. 4) Users can read and write reviews here. 5) Within a genre users can filter content by different dimensions.

Missed opportunities• On the content detail page, provide a way to sort reviews by dimensions like lowest/highest, recency etc• Horizontal carousels are cumbersome because they are invoked via a mouse click.• The type ahead search displays movies that are not in the current Netflix catalog. This doesn’t happen on other netflix platforms. It seems like an oversight.

What’s cool• On the content detail page, provide a way to sort reviews by dimensions like lowest/highest, recency etc

SummaryThe Netflix desktop app is a great tool for discovering new media content. Personalized recommendations are based on viewing habits and are prominently displayed on the homepage.

Score

A

1

2

3

4

5

Top Line Summary

What’s Working• Personalization• Algorithmic discovery • Taste profile• Desktop exploration filters• Resume media across platform• UX continuity

What’s Not Working• Snackable content e.g. trailers, clips, featurettes• Small catalog• Desktop search (they display titles not in catalog)• Taste profile tweaking (only available on desktop)• Difficult to “see more” personalized genres on certain devices• Living room search UX (results persist across sessions)

Score

B+

21

22

Netflix | Exploration + Discovery Desktop

Notes

1) On the Netflix homepage Netflix prominently shows the last movie a user watched, prompts them to review the title, then Netflix surfaces up 3 movie recommendations.

The first half of the Netflix homepage is centered around personalization and user content consumption, the last half of the page is dedi-cated to canned categories like new releases, popular titles, and genres. 2) Related content is surfaced at the bottom of the media detail page. Users paginate through sets of content via a mouse hover.3) Users can filter catalog by clicking cast, genres, director and categories. 4) Users can read and write reviews here. 5) Within a genre users can filter content by different dimensions.

Missed opportunities• On the content detail page, provide a way to sort reviews by dimensions like lowest/highest, recency etc• Horizontal carousels are cumbersome because they are invoked via a mouse click.• The type ahead search displays movies that are not in the current Netflix catalog. This doesn’t happen on other netflix platforms. It seems like an oversight.

What’s cool• On the content detail page, provide a way to sort reviews by dimensions like lowest/highest, recency etc

SummaryThe Netflix desktop app is a great tool for discovering new media content. Personalized recommendations are based on viewing habits and are prominently displayed on the homepage.

Score

A

1

2

3

4

5

23

Netflix | Exploration + Discovery Mobile

Notes

1) At the top of the home screen Netflix displays the last 4 unfinished titles. 2) Home screen currates content based on the following dimensions instant queue, last watched, popularity, genre, subject matter+genre, because you watch X, new releases, recently added, and popular on Face-book.3) Netflix does not have trailers, so anytime a user presses the play icon the movie will start. 4) Instead of saying “Related” Netlix says “More Like : Movie Title”. TV or Movie detail page is surfaced in a pop up, closing returns the user to the homepage or category.5) Main navigation consists of standards genres and TV shows.

Missed opportunities• Search is not as powerful as other competitors. Netflix does not allow you to search by genre, actor, or director. • Lack of short form content i.e. trailers, extras, featurettes, and clips.• No way to see more unstructured categories like “Critically-acclaimed comedies or Inspiring Biographical Documentaries.

What’s cool• The ”Continue Watching” feature is very responsive and handy when transporting media. • Recommendations aid users in discovering new content. The irreverent categories can be fun.

SummaryBecause Netflix has such a limited catalog, personalization becomes very important. Netflix does a great job of merchandising categories and introducing users to new content.

2

1

4

3

5

Score

A

24

Netflix | Exploration + Discovery Living Room

Notes

1) Netflix on the Playstation is very different than some of the other LR UX. The left jump menu allows users to filter wall content. Pressing X on the game control opens up a submenu. Playsta-tion LR is very similar to Netflix desktop in that it allows users to do robust browsing e.g. genre and sub genre filtering.

2) Netflix on the XBOX is also very different. The content is organized in horizontal rows. By hovering over a media title, users get a preview still of the TV/Movie title and a description.

3) Netflix layout on the Roku closely resembles Netflix iPad and Netflix on the desktop. Poster tiles include search results, instant queue, genres, popularity etc. When a title is in focus, system displays synopsis, year, review, rating, quality and # of episodes. Missed opportunities• The search function is buried across all LR platforms. On the Roku, the search button and results appear on the second content row. On the Xbox users have to select “Y” from the game control• On the Roku, search results are not presented well. Search results are positioned on the 2nd content row, replacing content. Results persist until a new search is performed or when the user closes the app. On the Xbox results are displayed in 1 row, not utilizing TV screen real estate.

SummaryOverall the Netflix liviing room UX is decent. All platforms present movies in some sort of poster tile format. The Roku UI is the most basic where the Playstation UI has the most functionality. Score

B

2

3

1

25

Netflix | Continuity Across Device

Notes

DesktopNetflix desktop elegantly presents recommenda-tions based on your consumption taste graph. The desktop is the only experience where you can modify your taste graph. Taste preferences can be modified directly via the homepage or under the “Taste Profile” section. The desktop UX appears to have the most comprehensive browsing/searching/discovery functionality.

TabletThe Netflix tablet UX closely aligns with the smartphone UX. The only noticeable difference being that the film detail page is surfaced via modal. Other than that, it appears that both experiences were built from the same tech stack.

SmartphoneThe Netflix smartphone UX closely aligns with the tablet UX. It appears that both experiences were built from the same tech stack.

Living RoomThe Netflix UX on XBOX, Roku and PS3 all use a poster tile grid layout. Many of the LR platforms display the posters different for instance XBOX displays posters 3 dimensionally in rows of 8 titles vs Playstation and Roku displaying content in rows of 5.

Score

A

HULU

26

Hulu | Exploration + Discovery Desktop

Notes

1). Large rectangular media stills merchan-dised on the homepage. Users can paginate through 15 titles.2) On the recommendation page, users can filter content by TV, Movies, and TV & Movies. Additional filters include Captions, Hulu Plus, and HD3) On the recommendation page, users can mark if they are interested in a title. If the user clicks yes, then system prompts user to watch now. If the users clicks no, the title is removed and replaced.4) If the user clicks the genre title, a massive drop down appears with standard and non standard genres. If user selects a new genre, the content refreshes.5) Staff picks span anything from what’s trending to editorial categories.

Missed opportunities• Search seems limited to genre and title. It would be nice if allowed users to search by director and actor. What’s cool• Some of the social commenting features are pretty neat. Users can comment from their feed and auto publish to hulu.com.• Exploration is a snap with the recommenda-tion section and the curated content. • Hulu has a well of short form content

SummaryThe Hulu desktop UX is powerful with a focus on discovery and exploration. Although the catalog isn’t as deep as other competitors you feel as though there is a deep content well. Score

A

1

2

34

5

Top Line Summary

What’s Working• Personalization• Algorithmic discovery• Lean back continuous play for clips• Content thumbnails & editorial layout • Desktop exploration filters on desktop• Resume media across platform• UX continuity across desktop, mobile and tablet

What’s Not Working• Living room search UX• Living room content grid (content is cut off in weird spots, see appendix for examples)• Smaller catalog mostly episodic content

Score

A

27

28

Hulu | Exploration + Discovery Desktop

Notes

1). Large rectangular media stills merchan-dised on the homepage. Users can paginate through 15 titles.2) On the recommendation page, users can filter content by TV, Movies, and TV & Movies. Additional filters include Captions, Hulu Plus, and HD3) On the recommendation page, users can mark if they are interested in a title. If the user clicks yes, then system prompts user to watch now. If the users clicks no, the title is removed and replaced.4) If the user clicks the genre title, a massive drop down appears with standard and non standard genres. If user selects a new genre, the content refreshes.5) Staff picks span anything from what’s trending to editorial categories.

Missed opportunities• Search seems limited to genre and title. It would be nice if allowed users to search by director and actor. What’s cool• Some of the social commenting features are pretty neat. Users can comment from their feed and auto publish to hulu.com.• Exploration is a snap with the recommenda-tion section and the curated content. • Hulu has a well of short form content

SummaryThe Hulu desktop UX is powerful with a focus on discovery and exploration. Although the catalog isn’t as deep as other competitors you feel as though there is a deep content well. Score

A

1

2

34

5

29

Hulu | Exploration + Discovery Mobile

Notes

1) Large TV/Movie stills stacked vertically instead of being housed within a carousel.2) Popular tab is global, defaults to episodic content.3) Media resuming message persist across all sections. 4) Related videos display below the media detail page.5) More tab allows users to filter content anytime..

Missed opportunities• The only real issue I found is that search does not support searching for actor, genre, director etc.

What’s cool• Large thumbnails and rectangular Movie/TV stills• Popular tab on main navigation. Drives users to explore new content. • Persistent media resuming message.• Shows you watch under the more tab.

SummaryHulu mobile is very discovery and exploration focused. Their app seems targeted to TV consumption, with certain filters defaulting to TV>episodes. The short form content works well in mobile context.

2

3

1

2

3

1

4

Score

A

30

Hulu | Exploration + Discovery Living Room

Notes

1) Large media stills auto rotates through content. Trailers, TV, Movies, Clips and recommendations display on the home screen.

Missed opportunities• The top carousel persists on many pages and is not a good use of TV real estate. • Virtually all screen functions are invoked within a row and a rectangle, which can kind of be confusing because there is a lack of visual hierarchy.

What’s cool• Lots of snackable content• History of shows that I watch• Top 100 clips • Movie Trailers Opening Week• Recommendations by category• Beautiful title detail page

SummaryOverall Hulu Plus is a good experience. Hulu has great recommendations, and it’s relatively easy to discover new content. Hulu could improve their UX by optimizing the screen real estate and tightening up their visual hierarchy.

1

Score

B

31

Hulu | Continuity Across Device

Notes

DesktopHulu desktop is a beautiful experiences. The feature set is powerful and is tailored to explora-tion and discovery. The desktop UX is most like the tablet UX. Noticeable difference between the tablet UX and the desktop UX would be hidden menus, social Facebook commenting, quick resume message and search.

TabletOverall the Hulu tablet app is pretty easy to use. The carousels are personalized and great for content discovery. Many of the UX affordances are consistent with the other platforms. Content browsing is largely dependent on carousels. Content layout is editorial and personalized. Method for content filtering “TV > Popular” is similar to the living room UX.

SmartphoneThe smartphone app is unique in that the content is not contained in carousels, instead content is formatted in list views. Some of the main navigation items are housed in the more tab. Similar to the tablet UX but with a different taxonomy. Most of the recommendations are short form content i.e TV shows, clips and trailers.

Living RoomOverall the Hulu living room UX is rich with content but difficult to navigation. The layout is consistent with other platforms in that content is housed in horizontal carousels. The taxonomy is consistent with other platforms.

Score

A

SCORECARD SUMMARY

32

33

SCORECARD SUMMARY

Apple

Amazon

Netflix

Hulu

Exploration +

Discovery

Continuity

Across Device

Overall

UX

C+

C+

B+

B+

A

B

A

A

B-

C+

B+

A

APPENDIX

34

35

HULU