6 UX Guidelines for Video Streaming Platforms
Over the years I’ve used many different streaming apps to watch television shows and movies. Some of these platforms are lacking good design and UX (user experience), but I use them anyway because they have content I’m interested in. While I may continue to use certain streaming platforms because of their content libraries, it won’t stop me from making suggestions for improvement.
To that end, I’ve outlined 6 design patterns I believe should be standard across all streaming services.
Note: UX for streaming platforms can vary depending on the device being used. To simplify things, I’m going to be focusing on desktop/laptop browsers and Amazon Fire TV apps.
1. Quick ways to continue watching
A large part of streaming is binge-watching television shows — viewing multiple episodes back to back. There are other times though when new episodes are released weekly. Regardless, a common goal when using a streaming service is to continue watching something. Yet, with many platforms, it takes several clicks or scrolls to get to the “Continue Watching” section. I understand wanting to highlight new content I might be interested in, but immediately after that should be a section where I can quickly jump back into the content I’ve already begun.
On Netflix, I currently see a hero banner followed by rows of content for “East Asian Crime TV Shows” (no idea why), “Trending Now,” and “Popular on Netflix,” before arriving at a “Continue Watching” section way below the fold. The order and title of these rows can change from account to account, and day to day, but “Continue Watching” should not be so far down at any time.
HBO Max gets it right. Right after a rotating hero banner I always see a “Continue Watching” section, requiring minimal effort to get to.
2. Removing content I’m no longer interested in
Sometimes friends come over and use my Netflix account to watch an episode of a show I have no interest in continuing. Other times I may watch a few episodes of a new show before dropping it. And occasionally I’ll mistakenly click the wrong piece of content, like when I watched several minutes of Outlander on Netflix before I realized it was not Highlander.
All of these situations can contaminate a “Continue Watching” section, so there needs to always be a way to easily remove items. It’s surprising how uncommon this is. You can find options to remove items for some platforms in a browser, but it’s nearly non-existent in streaming apps.
Also, if I only played a few seconds or minutes of a video, it was likely a mistake or I didn’t like it so it should not appear under “Continued Watching” (sorry Outlander). And if I watch something and then thumbs down the content, I’m probably not going to continue watching it so that too should not show under “Continue Watching.” In the latter case, I wouldn’t mind first being asked if I’d like to remove it though — maybe I want to hate-watch it.
3. Explain recommendations
I like recommendations. They are a great way to navigate the large catalogs that many streaming services offer. But platforms should explain why they are recommending something. It’s obvious when you get a module saying “You may also like…” when credits are rolling. The understanding is that you just finished watching an entire series or movie and these suggestions are similar to it. But this is less obvious when it’s on the welcome screen.
HBO Max is currently recommending Pennyworth: The Origin of Batman’s Butler. I suspect this is because I’ve watched several DC series on the platform but I can’t be sure. Netflix is currently showing me an entire section of “East Asian Crime TV Shows” and I have no idea why.
Adding a “You might like this because…” or “Because you watched/like…” widget when giving a recommendation would provide clarity and transparency, and entice me to want to check it out more. Extra credit if customers have a chance to say, “No thank you. I’m not interested in East Asian crime.”
4. Skipping intros and outros
Intros
At the beginning of most episodes is an opening sequence with credits. It’s usually the same every episode within a season, though some will tweak it a bit each time — a classic example is The Simpson’s couch gag.
If I’m binge-watching episodes back to back though, I don’t need to see an intro every time. I want to jump right to the episode. While most of the popular streaming services now display a button to “Skip Intro,” I’m advocating for a solution that automatically skips.
An exception to this is if the intro is unique or otherwise new, like at the start of a new season. In these cases, showing a “Skip Intro” button makes more sense. The other edge case to consider are scenarios where the intro begins a few minutes into the episode. Here too a “Skip Intro” button works best.
Outros
Outros for episodes can be a little trickier. You want to offer the option to skip them, but given that people are often binge-watching it’s relatively safe to auto-skip outros. A common pattern is to countdown a few seconds before skipping to the next episode.
But like The Simpson’s couch gag, sometimes there can be extra content that appears during or after credits. Famously, Marvel shows and movies tend to have 1 to 2 scenes peppered in the middle or end of their credits. And a recent trend used in series like The Walking Dead and Game of Thrones is to show both a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the episode and a sneak for of the next episode.
When there is more content after the credits you want to give viewers the chance to see it and make them aware of its existence. I’m sure there are some post-credit scenes I would have loved to see, only I didn’t know to wait for them.
A way to fix this is to hold off on auto-skipping and displaying a “Next Episode” button until after the scene. This works best when the credits are brief or the extra content appears shortly after the credits start.
If the extra content happens near or at the end of the credits, there should be a button that says “Skip Credits,” “Watch Behind the Scenes,” “Watch Next Week Preview,” or something along those lines. Ultimately, the goal is to alert the user of additional content and provide an option to skip right to it.
5. Skipping recaps for binge watchers
At the beginning of an episode, it’s not uncommon to hear a main character’s voice say, “Previously, on” along with the name of the show. What follows is a recap of the previous episode — or sometimes episodes — to give context to what you’re about to watch. This is useful if you haven’t watched an episode of the show in a week or more. But as I mentioned earlier, people frequently binge-watch shows. Rather than watching four episodes in a month, viewers might watch four episodes in one evening.
If a viewer is binge-watching episodes back-to-back, there is no need to provide a recap. They are locked in and ready to jump right into the action, so any recaps should be skipped. However, if a viewer is watching a new episode of a show that is being released weekly, or watching their first episode of that viewing session, then showing a recap of the last episode is warranted.
6. Don’t use bright background colors
When selecting a streaming app on your TV, you’ll often see a logo on a splash screen until the app has fully loaded. After this, you might get a screen asking you to select a user profile. Finally, you’ll be sent to a home screen with a selection of content for you to browse through. While it may not seem important at first glance, the colors used on all of these screens are important.
Although it’s hard to get data from streaming companies, data from traditional television makes it clear — 88% of people prefer to watch TV in the evening, with the busiest time being 9 pm. This means it’s usually dark outside. And even if it isn’t dark, it’s not uncommon to dim lights and close blinds for optimal television viewing. Given the darkness, streaming apps should use colors that are easy on the eyes at night.
Netflix and HBO Max get this right, as they use black and gray backgrounds predominantly. A bad example of this is the Paramount+ app which uses a bright blue background. It strains viewers’ eyes until they get to the content they want to see.
As I mentioned in the beginning, good content can outweigh flaws in design and UX. No matter how bad Paramount+, Hulu, or HBO Max may become, I’m still going to use them to watch Star Trek, The Handmaid’s Tail, and the Game of Thrones series. Nevertheless, it’s important to consider areas of frustration and continuously work to improve them, as it has an impact on brand perception.
And these are just a few ideas based on my personal experience. With user data and testing, I’m sure the above ideas can be improved. For now, if you have any feedback or additions to this list feel free to leave a comment or connect with me on LinkedIn.
