This document discusses ways to simplify searching for movies and TV shows on Netflix across different devices. It notes that searching can be difficult without a keyboard on devices like game consoles, smart TVs, and streaming devices. The author proposes a simultaneous menu interface that displays all categories at once to make searching faster. A prototype interface is created and tested with users. Based on feedback, improvements like expanding genre options and adding search are suggested.

1. Simplifying Searching on Netflix
Maximiliano Fulgueira
University of Idaho

2. Why Netflix?
 Netflix is the highest grossing streaming service for movies and TV shows

3. Why Netflix?
 Used across many platforms by users of
varying ages, household sizes, etc.
 Every user has a different experience based
on these factors and on preference

5. What’s the Problem?
 Avengers Story
 Searching for movies on Netflix can be problematic without using the search bar
 This is not a problem on computers, smart phones, and tablets, but Netflix runs on other devices that do
not use a keyboard:
 Video game consoles (uses a video game controller)
 Smart TV and Blu-Ray players (Remote control with numbers used to type)
 Streaming devices (Apple TV and Roku) ( specific remote control)
 Manual selection seems to be the fastest in these instances
 searching for a movie in a specific category can be a burden
 Not all categories or sub categories appear

7. PC Interface

8. Wii Interface

10. Mobile phone interface

11. Survey on Netflix Use
 15 Participants
 Ages: 14-47

18. Likes

20. What changes would you like to see?
 Make Netflix look a lot more similar across devices.
 Make the genres more clear.
 Make finding new movies easier .
 Nothing really, maybe make it faster
 Make it easier on devices without a keyboard, not everyone has a laptop or computer
 Find a way to use a keyboard on your TV.
 Make it a lot simpler
 I would like a faster way to find something to watch.
 It would be nice if Netflix added a way to see every category
 Better selection of movies and shows and a faster way to pick a movie
 I would like Netflix to be more clean and faster
 The option to change the quality
 Have better movies, make it faster

24. Why is it a problem?
 Can be tedious and time consuming without a keyboard
 Users pay for Netflix and should be able to get the most out of their
experience with the streaming service, which includes easy access to all
movies and TV shows

25. Competition (Hulu)

26. Goal
 Reduce the time it takes to search for a movie on devices that do not use a
keyboard
 Make it easier and faster to find a movie or TV show, and a specific genre/sub-
genre
 Make manual selection of a specific movie or TV show faster and more convenient
 Declutter the Interface

27. Simultaneous/Sequential menus
 According Hochheiser & Shneiderman (2000), simultaneous menu layouts lead to
improved task performance speeds, especially with experienced users
 sequential was helpful for new users doing simple tasks. Complex tasks
benefited from simultaneous menus
 Users new to watching TV on their phone were faster in performing tasks, such as
scrolling through a TV guide when all the items available at once (Freire et al,
2012).
 Experienced users worked faster when using context (pop-up) menus.
 Once a new user learns how to use context menus, their experience with a
video service can be faster.

28. Instructions for Wireframe
 Perform a specific task (look for a genre, select a movie)
 Users were made aware of limitations of prototype and what can be
selected
 Hierarchical task analysis and Thinking aloud testing

29. Wireframe
 https://marvelapp.com/e9fj0a6/screen/23705935

30. Hierarchical Task Analysis

31. Hierarchical Task 2

32. Hierarchical Task 3

33. Feedback for new interface
Pros:
 It’s neater, even if it is crude
 I like the option to see all genres
 Good idea to have every movie available in front of you
 This is a neat way to find obscure genres
 I like how all the genres in the home page are more visible and less cluttered
 Looks cleaner
Cons:
 Very unrealistic
 Limits make it harder to use
 Would be easier if all options were available
 I’d still like the option to have all movie tiles available

34. Uses and Future Changes
Uses:
 Great for smaller screens and when navigating with a remote or game controller
 Access to more obscure movies and genres
 More use of manual selection, less frustration
Changes:
 Expand option that expands all genres in home menu
 Option to search alphabetically
 Add a speech function

35. Companion App Idea
Non-keyboard devices: Remote Control for Netflix on
mobile phone
Connected by Wi-Fi, and allows you to select movie
Used when you want to watch Netflix on your television
(regardless of device)

37. Discussion
 Improved prototype
 More participants
 Multiple Regression Analysis-Find relationship between users, habits, age, etc
 Look at many different factors
 System Usability Scale
 Observe user on Netflix
 Different methods to accomplish a task
 Interview
 Order effects

38. References
 Dunn, J. (2016). Netflix is booming on the back of subscribers outside of the US. Business Insider
Retrieved from http://www.businessinsider.com/netflix-subscribers-us- international-chart-2016-10
 Friere et al. (2012). Menu and Context Based Interfaces Evaluation for Mobile TV. Procedia
Technology, 5, 556-565. Retrieved
from http://ac.els-cdn.com/S2212017312004926/1s2.0S2212017312004926- main.pdf?_tid=c72df176-aa29-
11e6 ab4700000aab0f26&acdnat=1479100889_21abdcf60c2ec181b329146febc 3c2b9
 Heggestuen, J. (2013). CHART: Netflix Sees Rates Of Tablet Video Streaming Triple In A Year, And Phone
Streaming Double. Business Insider.
Retrieved from http://www.businessinsider.com/video-streaming-usage-on mobile-devices-2013-9
 Hochheiser, H. and Shneiderman, B. Performance benefits of simultaneous over sequential menus as task
complexity increases. International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction 12, 2 (2000), 173- 192.
Retrieved from
http://hcil2.cs.umd.edu/trs/99-24/99-24.pdf
 Leung, A. (2016). How Does Netflix Pay Studios? What the Streaming Giant Does to Obtain Content. Arts.Mic.
Retrieved from
https://mic.com/articles/134272/how-does-netflix-pay-studios-what-the-streaming- giant-does-to-obtain-
content#.fKkgdsO38
 Russakovskii, A. (2012). Hulu Plus Update Finally Brings Tablet-Optimized UI To Select Devices. Android Police.
Retrieved
from http://www.androidpolice.com/2012/03/29/hulu-plus-update-finally- brings-tablet- optimized-ui-to-
select-devices/#ap-lightbox
 Mander, J. (2015). Netflix has twice as many American users as subscribers. Globalwebindex. Retrieved from
https://www.globalwebindex.net/blog/netflix-has-twice-as-many-american-users-as-subscribers.