Content Highlight on Browse

Providing users a way to preview content as they are browsing to support their discovery journey.

  • "It takes too much effort to click into a show or movie just to find out it doesn't look interesting"

    - Paramount Plus User

The Problem

Here’s the thing about scrolling for something to watch at 9pm - you’re tired. Our users were too. When analyzing the performance of our Shows and movies browse pages, we learned that users were struggling with the effort it took just to click into a page to see more info. Understandably, they wanted to get the most amount of information as possible with the least amount of effort. Seeing just the image of a show or a movie wasn’t enough.

Exploration & Measuring Success

It started with the question: “what information most supports the decision making process of picking a show or movie?”

While description, genre, and runtime were important (validated by user data), trailers proved most impactful. We recognized the value of a seamless user experience from homepage to browse and partnered with engineering and design to explore this concept.

Questions that were answered in the process were:

  • How much and what parts of a trailer should be shown to the user to provide a helpful and performant experience?

  • How much metadata does the user need to make a quick decision?

  • When should we start the video in a graceful way without interrupting the browsing experience?

… and more.

KPIs Targeted:

  • New Content Discovered from Browse

  • Minutes Watched from Browse

Design

Partnering with design involved many considerations:

  • Should the user be required to click to see the video or have it automatically display on hover?

  • How much space should we take up in the viewport while also showing additional carousel content?

  • What platform considerations do we have considering this feature would go live on OTT and Web?

Key Results and Learnings

By adding content highlight to browse pages, we helped users make easier and more informed decisions on what piece of content to watch. This resulted in a:

  • 15% increase in the amount of times people found a video to play

  • 15% in the total minutes watched from Browse pages

  • Higher customer satisfaction as the feature was in parity with the experience on the homepage