Led a nationwide, in-home study of a breakthrough video-on-demand (VOD) TV service, resulting in product rollout in four metro areas.

1. Atlanta VOD Findings
John Milanski, User Experience Strategy & Design

2. summary
We visited 8 Atlanta VOD trial customers in their homes, and asked
them questions about the service.
Setup was VOD build 1533 (pre-NavShell), AT&T 200-B and
Millennium 4 remote controls, TV Guide v15.
We also reviewed comments from 4 other studies relating to VOD.
Most significant problems were
• The service was often unavailable,
• People didn’t know they had the service, and
• Content was limited or difficult to access.
Recommended changes and promising ideas include
• Implement search by title and keyword across applications
• Save searches by title and alert customer when available
• Display TVGuide Reminders in VOD (option) without exiting
• Add movie times and locations to At the Theater section
• Simplify interface
– Restructure the Main Menu
– Redirect Guide to TV Guide Listings by Time screen
initial screen
beyondUI integration behaviors recommendideassummary features

3. features
main screen
Most appreciated features
1) Video previews
2) VCR functionality (especially pause, rewind)
3) 24-hour movie saves, so kids can watch more than once
4) Order on one TV, watch on another
Most used screens
1) Movies A-Z
2) New Releases
3) Movie Previews / Trailers
4) Movie Saver
Least used screens
1) Cable Picks
2) Kids
3) At The Theater
4) Movie Types
“Why would I want a VOD season pass
when I can tape it for free?” -- Kim
beyondUI integration behaviors recommendideassummary features

4. user interface
“PPV stinks because you can’t rewind it
at a good scene.” -- David
No major problems with legibility, but navigation could be
improved, specifically categorization (grouping of similar
content and functions), presentation of lists, and presentation
of hierarchical information
Pluses
• Movie info screen useful and informative
Minuses
• Difficulty finding a particular movie to watch
• No ability to track movies watched or desired
• Many areas unused, partly because they feel redundant
• At The Theater and Coming Soon are seen as redundant
• VCR control buttons on remote control are too small
movie info screen
beyondUI integration behaviors recommendideassummary features

5. integration
“I have no interest in going to
Blockbuster… (with VOD) there’s no late
fees, no lines, no hassle.” -- Barry
Most significant problems were
• TV Guide Reminders cause VOD to exit
• Customers expect Guide to link them to TV Guide Listings by
Time, not the TV Guide Main Menu
• Some customers wanted the ability to search for a movie
across domains (VOD, PPV, Premium, network)
main screen
beyondUI integration behaviors recommendideassummary features

6. behaviors
“I wish I could set VOD reminders for
movies I want to see, and check them
off later.” -- Beverly
Most significant behaviors as recalled were
• People using VOD feel they are reducing their PPV use
• If a movie is available on VOD, people feel they skip
Blockbuster
• People are recording VOD movies to VHS videotape
Perceptions about the VOD service
at the theater screen
beyondUI integration behaviors recommendideassummary features
Perception reality
Movies ordered the most are
available on VOD the longest
Predetermined availability
window from studio
75 - 200 movies are available
to watch at any one time
250-300 movies available at
one time
Movies are updated once a
week to once a month
Updated on a rolling basis
(daily)
VOD is reasonably priced at
$3 - 5 / movie
Movie price varies from $0.99
- $11.99

7. Beyond Atlanta
“If you order a VOD movie on one TV, you
can watch it on any TV!” -- Erica
Relevant findings from past VOD and related studies
• VOD UI walkthrough (no NAV shell) (M. Franzke)
• VOD UI walkthrough (NAV shell), BiTV interviews (J. Milanski)
• LA VOD surveys (J. Want)
Navigation issues
• Categorization and labeling unclear
• No indication of hierarchy
• List navigation cumbersome and inconsistent with TV Guide
Remote control issues
• Remapping of Menu to NavShell and Guide to TVG menu
• Three strikes against this change
– Semantics: pressing “Guide” takes you to a Menu
– Familiarity: people used to current behavior of “Guide”
– Frequency of use: removal of direct access to Listings by Time
LA trends confirm other findings
• Many complaints about lack of content
• Few change VOD settings
• Convenience, movie saver, vcr controls
beyondUI integration behaviors recommendideassummary features
AT&T 200-B remote control

8. ideas
“I tried searching for a movie, but it was
never there, so I gave up.” -- Bob
Most popular ideas were
• Show movie previews, schedules, and directions to local
theaters for movie not yet available on VOD.
• Add VOD “wish lists” to alert customer when a searched
movie title is available.
• Add VOD games.
Other interesting suggestions included
• Organize content by year of release (e.g. an 80’s category).
• Acquire content based on an aggregate list of searches.
• Add a searchable movie information database to VOD, similar
to internet movie database sites.
• Provide interactive movies, where the viewer chooses the
endings.
• Ability to search for how-to shows by topic.
movies a-z screen
beyondUI integration behaviors recommendideassummary features

9. recommendations
“VOD would win hands down, if enough
titles were up there.” -- Benita
High priority
• Provide technical solution such that TV Guide Reminders
don’t interrupt the VOD application – or:
• Provide customer with option to display TVGuide Reminders
that interrupt VOD
• Implement search by title and keyword across applications
• Provide content not available thru other sources
(TV, premium, PPV, rental, movie theater)
Low priority but desirable
• Save searches by title and alert customer when available
• Add movie times and locations to At the Theater section
• Provide a way to indicate movies would like to see
• Add movie genre to movie info screen
• Simplify interface
– Restructure the Main Menu
– Remove specials and cable picks
– Redirect Guide to TV Guide Listings by Time screen
beyondUI integration behaviors recommendideassummary features

10. Appendix - demographics
Name Age Gender Household
Income
($1000)
Employed Education people
in house
Primary TV set
(size/type)
# TVs # VCRs # programs
record/wk
TV
watching
(hrs/day)
Computer
Home
(hrs/day)
Internet
Home
(connect)
ATLANTA
Beverly 46 F 45-65 Yes High School 5 25" tube 4 3 daily 7.0 Yes - 3 Yes - dialup
Barry 36 M 65-85 Yes Graduate degree (business)5 32" tube 3 2 0.14 2.5 Yes - 2 Yes
David C. 38 M 85-105 Yes Some post-grad 3 32" tube 2 1 0 2.5 Yes - 1 Yes - dialup
Robert 59 M >105 No Graduate (American History)2 27" tube 3 3 0.25 4.0 Yes - 2 Yes - HSD
Benita 33 F 65-85 No Some college 6 32" tube 4 2 6 4.0 Yes - 2 Yes - HSD
John 35 M 65-85 Yes High School 6 32" tube 4 1 2 2.0 Yes - 0.5 Yes
Erica 24 F <15 No Some college 8 27" tube 5 5 2 6.0 Yes - 3 Yes - 3
Kim 38 F 25-45 No Some college 7 50" projection 8 6 4 12.0 Yes Yes
AVERAGES 38.6 4F / 4M varies 4Y / 4N All > high school 5.3 32" tube 4.1 2.9 1.8 4.4 8Y / 0N 8Y / 0N
Order PPV?
(#/month)
Order on
TV?
(#/month)
Order on
internet?
(#/month)
# VOD
buys 1/1-
4/17
Yes - 1 Yes - 3 Yes - 4 7
Yes - 1 No Yes - 2 1
Yes - 2 No Yes - 1 0
Yes - 1 No Yes - 1 5
No Yes - 1 Yes - 2 6
Yes - ? No Yes - ? 6
Yes - 10 No Yes - 2 56
Yes - 1 No No 0
7Y / 1N 2Y / 6N 7Y / 1N
Barry
BeverlyBobJohn & Benita
Dave Erica Kim

11. Appendix – la VOD surveys
Usage
1. Have you ordered movies using our VOD service? If so, how many movies have you ordered per week on average?
2. Do the movies you order start immediately after the ordering process?
3. Have you tried to use VCR functionality keys on your remote control to fast forward, rewind and pause your movie? If so, is the
response time adequate?
4. Have you used the movie saver feature to stop a movie and watch it at a later time?
5. Have you made changes to your account settings (including setting parental controls, spending limits, rate limits)?
6. Have you set up any additional accounts (for children, etc.)? Have you been able to change the settings on these accounts?
7. Have you ordered any of the "Unlimited Offerings"? (Kids Unlimited or Playboy Unlimited).
Content
8. Is the library of VOD titles adequate?
9. What, if any, other type of programming would you like to see on our VOD service.
Pricing
10. Consider VOD pricing ($0.99 Cable Picks/Kids, $2.99 Library, $3.99 New Releases and $9.99-11.99 for adult programming)? Is this
too high, too low, comparable to the video store?
11. At these prices, how many movies do think you would order and pay for per month?
12. Do you think you will visit the video store more, less, or about the same now that VOD is available in your area?
13. If there was a surcharge for the VOD service (in addition to the cost of the movies), how much, if anything, would you be willing to
pay per month to have access to VOD?
Customer Experience
14. Have you experienced any picture problems (such as tiling which are random little boxes that appear on the screen, jittering
pictures) or other issues.
15. Have you called customer care for any reason related to VOD over the past couple weeks?
If yes, were you able to receive help/answers to your questions?
If you couldn't receive help/answers, why not? What happened? (Call re-routed to disconnect, no one answered, etc).
16. Have you experienced any problems that you did not/could not report either with a specific video or with the VOD service in general?
17. What is the one thing that you like most about the VOD service?
18. If you could change one thing about VOD, what would you change?
19. We recently added a new navigational menu to our VOD service that appears when the digital receiver is first powered on or when
the “Menu” button is pressed. (Menu options include: VOD, Guide, View TV.) What do you think about this new feature?
20. Overall, how has your VOD experience been?
21. Would you recommend VOD to a friend?
Additional Comments:
Please provide any additional comments you may have about the VOD service.