NFL CTV 2020 Redesign —
Scaling for the future of streaming
Designing a unified, personalized OTT platform for the league and its 32 clubs.
Company:
The National Football League
Role:
Lead Design and Strategy
OVERVIEW
After a fairly successful 2016-17 redesign, the NFL saw Connected TV adoption improving. However, fans expected more personalization, better access to live game experiences, and consistent quality across platforms. I led the design as the only designer working alongside cross-functional leads within product and engineering to build and deliver that experience.
GOALS:
1 —
Provide fans with better and easier access to live content to increase AMA consumption & auth.
2 —
Improve personalization with team-first content so fans have a unified football experience.
3 —
Increase paid GamePass subscriptions by providing users access to more content (i.e., shows).
CHALLENGES:
Live game access still remains limited and requires multi-auth to watch most content. Can we get clubs to buy into a unified experience instead of building their own?
USER NEED:
More customization and broader access to team specific content. Fans want deeper engagement with their teams.
BUSINESS NEED:
Allow clubs to utilize the leagues CTV app to publish their own club content so that clubs use our app vs building their own.
RESEARCH —
Gathering insights
The NFL Digital Media’s current digital video strategy is overly complex,
does not always match fan behavior and expectations, does not provide
a consistent and delightful user experience, and is at-risk of underperforming relative to 5-year plan goals.
RESEARCH:
Unmoderated verbal survey interview —
20 participants recruited on UserTesting.com to complete survey while verbally explaining their choices
Email survey collection —
327 participants completed survey (without verbal explanation)
Moderated qualitative interview —
12 participants recruited on UserTesting.com for phone interviews, to speak to how they seek out or engage with video related to professional football
PARTICIPANTS:
AGE 18 - 65+
GENDER 70% Male / 30% Female
FAN LEVEL 50% Avid / 50% Casual Fans
VIDEO WATCHING 50% Frequent / 50% Occasional
INSIGHTS & RECOMMENDATIONS
Facilitate a deeper bond with fans and their teams:
Fans want curated content from games, events, news, etc. that tells a story and builds a deeper connection with their teams
Allow fans to tailor their experience:
Casual fans seek slightly more in-depth highlights. Avid fans tend to be more engaged and caught up so they want the best moments
Put the league in their perspective:
Give fans a deeper understanding of how current events will impact their team
“I will watch more about the Ravens on good weeks. Less-so if they lost, it’s just too emotional”
“I love the Colts’ website, I use it as my news source. All the content is interesting and keeps me up with what’s going on”
Hypothesis
A unified CTV app with expanded team and league content will deepen engagement, boost monetization, and streamline operations.
IDEATION —
Concepts & Iterations
It was important to build on the strengths of the 2017 redesign while expanding our reach and increasing the content offering. Ways to do this were: Preserve instant-on simplicity. Add personalized Team Channels. Create a scalable, card-based content system. Develop a platform-agnostic design language for consistency across devices.
Concept 1 - TV-like, minimized menu
Testing motion and interactions
Team menu
Team view - branded channels
When a user navigates to a team channel, the content priority shifts to support that fan/team experience. The primary content is related to that team, and league content fades into the background.
League view - default
The default app experience is centered around the league and its content. Team content will appear here, but the idea is that the league content is at the forefront in this view.
Concept 2 - More traditional menu / playback
DEFINING APP ARCHITECTURE AND CONTENT
Use cases across content
Content strategy mapping
I developed a playful but intuitive exercise to determine how game and broadcast content would shift as the schedule changed throughout the week. It was important understand how to position the right content at the right time to fans, however the content was always shifting depending on day, week, etc..
Wireframes and architecture
Motion studies
Splash screen and onboarding
Loading animations
Bounce 1
Bounce 2
Pulse
Branded team backgrounds
Final designs
Guided by research insights, I iterated on design directions to align with user needs and business goals. Principles like gamification, transparency, and motivation informed every aspect of the reviewer profile.
HOME LANDER
Improved content cards
The “On now & upcoming” content tray is the primary tray in the app experience. It supports live and scheduled content across different streaming sources and channels such as NFL Network, broadcast and DirecTV. The cards in this tray need to be clear so users can understand what content is available to them and why.
Adding more GP content
Improving our content strategy was important to drive viewership across the app and into new areas like increasing GP subscriptions. Dynamically surfacing game replays that are timely helped improve consumption.
Giving fans more to watch
Fans wanted to have a deeper connection with their team and league. Finding opportunities to promote content in “simple” yet engaging ways helped drive consumption.
GAMES LANDER
SHOWS LANDER
TEAM DETAIL
SIGN IN / SIGN UP FLOWS
