Case Study — Netflix’s New Feature “Netflix Together”

Designing the new feature of Netflix to be able to watch Netflix together with your friends virtually without having limitations of screen or device.

Background

Netflix together came to mind when I learned about this new Amazon Prime feature “Watch Party” that allows multiple users to stream their favorite shows and watch them in sync and also chat with them, but how inconvenient is it to chat while watching unless you have lightning speed in texting which I clearly do not have, plus I’d love to talk and see the people I am watching shows with.

Moving on to finding an alternative for watching shows together, I found some great plugins like Netflix Party and Flickcall that lets you chat or connect with friends via video call while watching your favorite shows together, but they are Chrome extensions that are only suitable for a laptop. What if you want to watch the show on your phone or don’t want a Chrome extension?

Over the course of 4 weeks, I have designed this new feature in Netflix in a user-friendly way and to be device-independent. Here, users can watch their favorite Netflix shows together and communicate with each other in real-time via video chat.

The Challange

Watching movies along with these plugins or chat features is cumbersome and limited to a particular device. The challenge is to come up with a design where users can watch movies together and in sync while connected through video chat, with no screen size or device limitations.

The Solution

My version of this Netflix Together feature was inspired by Amazon Watch Party, Netflix Party, and Flickcall to extend their current features and add additional features that I think are best for Netflix together feature based on the research I have done.

Design Sprint

User Research

I created the survey and sent it to Netflix users to better understand their needs and suggestions for watching Netflix together, and also to determine users’ difficulties with Amazon Watch Party and extensions like Netflix Party and Flickcall.

Individual Interviews

I conducted a total of 5 user interviews and can break down my interview into.

1. General questions about their use of Netflix and extensions like Netflix Party or Flickcall, from their motivations to how it fits into their overall experience and user goals.
2. Observational user testing, where I asked users to use the extensions and amazon Watch Party and let me know the difficulties they encountered while using them, allowing me to observe their behavior and instincts in a realistic setting.
3. Further questions about this process and about their experiences and feelings toward certain features of the Amazon Watch Party & Netflix Party Chrome extension.

From the interviews, I can draw several insights about the user experience and how a new feature of watching Netflix together can be designed.

• Video Chat + Audio: Users desired a personalized experience when interacting with friends. Users valued seeing and hearing their friends face-to-face for immediate interaction. They desired a more meaningful interaction among friends to communicate while watching Netflix.

“I don’t like that you can’t video chat, so I might as well use Messenger or Messages. It’s annoying to text all the time while watching a movie.”

• Navigation: Users wanted to be able to view the screens in different sizes according to their preferences.

Points of Designing

After a more detailed analysis of the affinity mapping issues, I have identified three main features that should be added to the new “Netflix Together” feature.

1. Starting a party — To start a Netflix Together party in a user-friendly and personalized experience.
2. Minimize Chat, Videocall or Netflix together feature from all views — A clear way for users to minimize sidebar options to display different features.
3. Video Chatting — Allow users to have a live-time experience through video calling with mute options

Design System

Since the Netflix design system is not publicly available, I retrieved the colors and recreated the icons and components from the existing UI of Netflix.

New Feature: Netflix together

• Starting of Netflix Together Party on Netflix: I have tried to simplify the steps and create a user-friendly experience by including a button in the info section of each movie or series. When the user clicks on the link, they can copy it and share the link from Netflix to watch the show together in video chat.

Desktop View

Mobile View

• Video Chat & Text Chat feature: During my research, I realized that the biggest pain point for users was the lack of a more personal interaction option. I designed and implemented a video chat feature that would allow users to see and talk to their friends while streaming video, including buttons to turn the video on and off and mute it for customization. This project was prototyped for 2-way video, but I decided to limit the maximum number of video screens to 4 people to maximize functionality.

Desktop View

Mobile View

• Hide Sidebar to Fullscreen Mode: Designed to incorporate a minimized sidebar icon in Netflix itself. Once minimized, it would prompt to show notifications and the user’s video on the black bar above the movie but for the limited screen space it is not possible to show this feature in mobile view user can always minimize the sidebar but the video chat will not be visible, unlike desktop view.

Desktop View

Mobile View

Takeaways

• In-depth understanding of design sprint and design process.

Future Steps

• Prototyping
• Expanding this approach to other streaming platforms.