Work / Reelgood play to TV
Work / Reelgood play to TV
Play to TV - a Seamless Patent Pending UX
Play to TV - a Seamless Patent Pending UX
Patent Pending
IN THE USA
boost in playbacks
& RETENTION
Most innovative
'21 Fast Co.
Patent Pending
IN THE USA
boost in playbacks
& RETENTION
Most innovative
'21 Fast Co.
2X WIN, 6X NOM.
THE Webbys
boost in playbacks
& RETENTION
Most innovative
'21 Fast Co.
Role
Head of Product and Design
Date
2020
Company
Reelgood
Role
Head of Product and Design
Date
2020
Company
Reelgood
Reelgood is the leading streaming guide in the U.S. Helping millions of people find what to watch and where to watch it.
While leading our portfolio of streaming guide products across mobile, web, and smart TVs, I developed a whole new UX for users to be able to play right from Reelgood to nearly any streaming service on TVs. Currently patent pending, Play to TV boosted playbacks by 25%, retention by 18%, won us a few awards, and helped us garner new financing.
Reelgood is the leading streaming guide in the U.S. Helping millions of people find what to watch and where to watch it.
While leading our portfolio of streaming guide products across mobile, web, and smart TVs, I developed a whole new UX for users to be able to play right from Reelgood to nearly any streaming service on TVs. Currently patent pending, Play to TV boosted playbacks by 25%, retention by 18%, won us a few awards, and helped us garner new financing.
Problem Space
Reelgood helped people along their nightly watching journey
Reelgood had already gone a long way solving what and where to watch.
And we had a lot to show for our efforts, millions of users, 48% 6 month retention, and an industry leading experience garnering a few Webby's and millions in venture funding.
We did have deep links to play from Reelgood to streaming apps on mobile, but it wasn't enough.
We could launch right from our app to the movie or episode within nearly any other streaming app. Our database covered millions of titles on over 200 different services and apps.
Only 20% of people used those links to watch. Most of them were doing all the discovery on Reelgood then opening it manually on their TVs.
2 minutes for discovery and then another 2 minutes just getting to the content on the TV
To make streaming easier, we had to make watching on the TV easier…
Could we do this?
The process felt a lot like this scene from Apollo 13.
Albeit with slightly lower stakes.
Competitive analysis showed lots of remote apps out there for popular devices - some with millions of downloads.
Competitive analysis showed lots of remote apps out there for popular devices - some with millions of downloads.
Lots of interface based remotes
Some of them could even launch popular apps
Some of them could launch apps
Support for a wide variety of Devices
but they fell short of actually playing content.
but they fell short of actually playing content.
A recent trip to CES I took unearthed some more ideas…
An ad tech company I met with had told me about a bunch of protocols they used to connect TV to mobile devices for ad attribution.
I had meetings with a few TV and device manufacturers that licensed our data - I picked their brains about API documentation and protocols they supported.
Me thinking deep thoughts with our head of biz dev at CES in 2020
wait a second here
Why not just build Reelgood for TVs?
Why Not Just Build Reelgood for TVs?
Reelgood's own android TV app from ~2018
We had built a few TV apps - but it was difficult to drive adoption and didn't support the on-the-go discovery experience that Reelgood enabled.
time to start building
I briefed our engineers at our upcoming retreat and they hacked away.
I Briefed our Engineers at our upcoming retreat and they hacked away.
Armed with a multitude of devices popular with our users and a home theater, they started digging into docs and details I had uncovered and managed to start piecing things together over a few days.
With a few devices working, and a dummy prototype, we turned our home theater into a testing lab for other Reelgood-ers.
I whipped up a UI prototype for people to use and we had a developer in the back of the room fire the necessary network payloads to the devices to test out the UX.
"Okay, what was that? felt like magic… is that really something we can do?"
Reaction from Dietrich von Behren, Reelgood's chief business officer when he tried our first hacky prototype.
Beyond shocking our coworkers, we got a few other learnings from internal testing at our retreat.
Start with Rokus & LG TVs
Start with Rokus & LG TVs
Both had the most seamless UX (allowed remote wake up, automatically installed apps) and between the 2 covered nearly 50% of our user base.
Both had the most seamless UX (allowed remote wake up, automatically installed apps) and between the 2 covered nearly 50% of our user base.
Include a UI Remote
Include a UI Remote
After people launched things, they needed to adjust volume, play/pause etc. and since they didn't use the remote, we needed to add one.
After people launched things, they needed to adjust volume, play/pause etc. and since they didn't use the remote, we needed to add one.
Make it Look Like Casting
Make it Look Like Casting
Our prototype used some more Reelgood based UI but to reduce cognitive load, we made it look familiar and more like standard casting UIs.
Our prototype used some more Reelgood based UI but to reduce cognitive load, we made it look familiar and more like standard casting UIs.
Needs to be "Magic"
Needs to be "Magic"
The "aha" moment was incredibly strong, but on the converse, failures to launch correctly or drop users in the right spot broke the whole experience.
The "aha" moment was incredibly strong, but on the converse, failures to launch correctly or drop users in the right spot broke the whole experience.
Shipping our V1
HIGHLIGHTS
PLaying to your TV was added as an option in our playback section.
PLaying to your TV was added as an option in our playback section.
While not incredibly prominent, we knew that 80% of all sessions had a view of this section, making it subtle but easy to find. We used native looking action sheets and remotes to make it feel familiarly utilitarian. As easy as using your normal remote.
While not incredibly prominent, we knew that 80% of all sessions had a view of this section, making it subtle but easy to find. We used native looking action sheets and remotes to make it feel familiarly utilitarian. As easy as using your normal remote.
We Layered the remote into the UI with great care.
We layered in the remote to the UI with great Care
Fearing the dilution of our already highly functional discovery experience, we resolved to layer in this functionality so it only showed when you needed it: when ready to control a TV.
Fearing the dilution of our already highly functional discovery experience, we resolved to layer in this functionality so it only showed when you needed it: when ready to control a TV.
And gave users the right troubleshooting steps when needed
And gave users the right troubleshooting steps when needed
As with all network based discovery, sometimes things fail, users aren't on wi-fi and other issues arise. We made sure to layer in prompts to guide people to success.
As with all network based discovery, sometimes things fail, users aren't on wi-fi and other issues arise. We made sure to layer in prompts to guide people to success.
No wifi connected
No devices detected
How to Guide
Manual addition
Success
Nightly Watching Made Reelgood
People could now find something to watch, where to watch it, and seamlessly play it on the device of their choosing. This helped us boost engagement, garner more financing, won us a few awards, and helped get the attention of Google who later became a data partner.
Nightly Watching Made Reelgood
People could now find something to watch, where to watch it, and seamlessly play it on the device of their choosing. This helped us boost engagement, garner more financing, won us a few awards, and helped get the attention of Google who later became a data partner.
Patent Pending
in playbacks
partnership
in retention
MOST INNOVATIVE
