The steady march of streaming over the more traditional form of TV broadcast viewing is perhaps most obviously driven by convenience; watching at a time that best suits us. Even live events or shared experiences are now more often watched via iPlayer, ITV Hub or All4 in our house, so that the broadcast schedule doesn’t interfere with our social life (a drink with neighbours, a nice meal…)
Streaming, and particularly on-demand consumption, is a refinement in our viewing, but in many respects it’s just the start.
User experiences, often simply “UX” within the industry, cover the far more extensive scope of consumer engagement. It’s about how enjoyable and immersive the complete customer journey can be.
Of course, when it comes to traditional broadcast viewing there really isn’t much of a journey at all; a number on a remote control, a channel up and down button, and you’re there; settle back and be entertained.
But in streaming, the benefits of on-demand viewing are that it allows content to be browsed through a user interface (UI) that the streaming service provider can control; can change or adapt to the time or situation, the market or consumer choices made and many other things.
The difference is data. Data-driven UXs deliver the simplest to the most complex of outcomes - from presenting a time relevant Halloween or Valentines collection, to presenting a completely different branded version of the service based on, for example, your registration details.
Editorial tools that allow you to determine the UX based on any data are powerful tools. For example, registration data resulting in a children’s version of the service, location data determining a different language version, time of day data resulting in a dark or light modes, different content line-up, or indeed any other data that it might make sense to drive the UX. Powerful editorial control to better engage consumers than ever before.
This offers the dawn of a new and vastly improved viewing experience, not least for channel/content providers and businesses provided with powerful editorial tools for optimising consumer engagement, powerful marketing tools that offer market segmentation outcomes: different user interfaces, different content, different offers etc.
In subsequent blogs we’ll look at this in more depth, but if this is something that interests you, come and see us in our London office.
__________________
EaselTV is the streaming service provider behind Sky News, hayu, StagePlayer+, SohoTheatre and other streaming services. You can contact Easel TV by emailing our CEO directly at joe.foster@easeltv.com.
Easel TV
1 Waterhouse Square
London EC1N 2ST
T: +44 (0)20 3026 3605
.png)
