Netflix unveils big refresh of TV experience

Netflix has unveiled a major new refresh of its user experience on TVs.

In a briefing, Netflix chief product officer Eunice Kim noted that the goal behind the update was to make everything “easier, elevated [and] more personal” for its customers. Most important, she said, was to help members “easily find” the content they care about. To do that, the company is introducing a variety of changes on TVs, as well as a few teases for upcoming changes for mobile.

TVs

First, the ‘My Netflix’ section has been relocated to a new tab on the top of screen that lives beside “Home,” “Shows,” “Movies,” and “Games.” This will make it easier to find “everything you love,” which includes “Continue Watching” movies and shows, reminders you’ve set for upcoming titles, My List and more.

The company is also leveraging AI and machine learning to provide smarter and more accurate content recommendations. For instance, suggestions will dynamically change depending on your real-time actions, like trailers you’re watching, titles you’re searching for or thumbs ups you’ve just given.

A number of changes have also been made from a UI perspective. For one, there’s a cleaner design now that includes new motion techniques for fluid and snappy animations between titles, as well as overhauled colour schemes to attain synergy with Netflix’s billboards. On top of that, individual title cards are tighter now to display all relevant information at first glance, like callouts (i.e. “Emmy Award winner”), details like genre, release year and number of seasons, and synopsis.

Overall, Netflix says the design maxim for the new UX is “flexible, intuitive, responsive and elevated.” The new TV experience will be rolling out to all users in the coming weeks.

Mobile

While the presentation was mostly focused on the TV changes, Netflix did tease a couple updates for mobile users.

First, Netflix is working on a new vertical video feed that will feature clips of shows and movies. From there, you can tap to immediately launch a given title, add it to My List for later viewing or even share with someone else. This will be tested globally in the coming weeks.

And back to the aforementioned AI implementation is another feature related to Search that will revamp search functionality to provide content recommendations based on specific queries. For example, you can say “I want something funny and upbeat” and it will give suggestions accordingly. This will be tested among more members this week,

Additionally, the company said it wants to expand the “Moments” feature that it rolled out in December. With it, users can save, share and rewatch favourite moments from movies and shows. (For instance, during the presentation, Netflix said the highly-buzzed kiss between Vi and Caitlyn has been the most popular Moment so far, while five of the other top ones have been from Squid Game.) Netflix teased that it will invest more in the Moments space “in the coming months.”

Netflix is available on most TVs, as well as Android, iOS, the web, video game consoles and more.

For more on Netflix, check out what’s coming to the service in Canada this month.

Image credit: Netflix