Netflix is introducing a redesigned TV homepage and mobile experience as part of a renewed effort to improve content discovery across shows, movies, live events, and games.
The new design is described as clean and contemporary with motion techniques deployed to keep animations fluid.
Chief product officer Eunice Kim told a press briefing that while the streamer had been constantly improving its UI over the last 12 years, most of the work had been behind the scenes.
“Our members do a lot of eye gymnastics when they’re scrolling down and right and going back and forth between rows and title details on the homepage and this makes it hard to absorb enough information to understand what is unique about each title. In the new experience, we’re putting all the information you need to make an informed choice about what to watch front and centre.”
Netflix plans to test a vertical feed of clips from shows, while on the mobile homepage there will be a row featuring clips from a subscribers Top Picks.
Chief Technology Officer Elizabeth Stone said Netflix was working with AI to improve the search experience. “We’re exploring ways to bring Generative AI which unlike traditional AI, can create text, image and videos to our members Discovery Experience Starting with search, we want you to be able to discover shows and movies using natural conversational phrases like I want something funny and upbeat or I want something scary but not too scary and also maybe a little bit funny but not like haha funny.”
Stone explained how the investments made in content delivery network OpenConnect since 2012 helped Netflix reduce internet traffic and create less lag on play.
“Over the years we’ve layered on AI capabilities that optimise how these files travel over the Internet, fine tune the streaming quality in real time and compress video files so you can stream shows and movies even on slower networks.”
The new look will be rolled out in the next few weeks.
