June 12, 2024
Netflix is testing a redesigned version of its TV app, reports The Verge, marking the first major overhaul to the app in the last decade. The new design is a notable departure from the current look, but it is more modern and puts more information about content front and center. By: K Dass.
US - Netflix recently revealed a major redesign for its TV
app, which will roll out to select users soon. The video streaming pioneer
wants to increase the time that viewers spend on the app to help retain
customers and draw subscribers to its new, lower cost plans with advertising.
Company research
showed users were performing what Netflix executive Pat Flemming called
"eye gymnastics", or looking around to various parts of the Netflix
home screen, when trying to find a title that interested them.
Dynamic Homepage: The
static tiles containing shows and movies are replaced with boxes that expand as
soon as your remote lands on them. This aims to improve navigation and make
content discovery more engaging.
Streamlined Menu: The
menu that used to pop out from the left side of the homepage is now replaced
with a more streamlined selection of options at the top of the screen: search,
home, shows, movies, and My Netflix.
A subset of Netflix's
nearly 270 million users around the globe will see the new format starting
Thursday. The company will take feedback, and possibly make changes, before
unveiling it more widely.
Netflix has been
emphasising engagement time as a key metric, telling investors it is the
"best proxy for customer satisfaction". The company will stop regular
reporting of subscriber numbers next year to shift Wall Street's focus.