CTV Desktop App

CTV was exploring new avenues to reach their audience and looking to add a desktop application to their repertoire. It would be utilizing their new SDK, – developed to push service onto multiple devices in their ecosystem.

They were open to ideas about what the app could present to viewers (within the limits of what the API returned). Some strict requirements included:

CTV provided access to a focus group and several screened public viewers for user testing. I joined a researcher and a producer for a day to better understand the viewers they were anticipating using the app.

I learned that CTV had an Audience Development team and (with a bit of vetting) acquired market analysis for several prior years. This gave me insights into viewer demographics on all CTV mediums.

While millennials were the fastest growing audience in the network, they used desktop mediums less than other cohorts. Expected viewers of this desktop app would differ; and be older—averaging 42.

While talking with viewers it became clear that they had a proclivity toward a single show over all others. When prompted they could retrieve very specific details about seasons, episodes & characters. Admittedly they were supplementing their knowledge between shows by searching for trivia.

Analytics data on the CTV website seemed to match these findings. Relevant aggregated search terms were highest just after a show with a further spike a day later -possibly after an episode was discussed socially. This was further corroborated by consistent activity to/from Facebook – where an array of fan pages existed.

The target user for the app was becoming clear:

• They had a ‘go to show’ which they overwhelmingly watched over others.
• They prefered to view actual episodes away from their desktop.
• They were around middle age.
• They went between CTV & Facebook frequently.
• They were hungry for gossip post episode.

For content I recommended the app focused on trivia on & around each show. It would refresh on interval set to a viewers time, early morning (if app is active ) or update when opened.

I also pitched CTV about integrating a trivia quiz into the app: it would be a ‘nice to have’, provide an interactive element and could be run from Facebook—a popular medium with their core viewer. While they didn’t have an endpoint for this, they saw the value and we worked with their social media team to integrate it.

I reviewed the brand manual, noting that it was light on interactive, usability & accessibility guidelines. Was there specific components or a design system I should use? The brand team at CTV would offer feedback personally due to the app being so niché!

With this in mind I decided to run some early UI past the CTV’s brand team with further questions:

• Did we have the legal right to isolate assets from the shows?
• Could we use show branding in the UI & iconography?

Prefered by viewers in testing but failed brand review at CTV.

Early UI showing theming, registration and zoning for layout. Content would be presented in either, text, text/image or video & icon/image (for links out).

Tabs changed the order of content from news/gossip to schedule and videos (behind the scenes and missed episodes).

Several iterations were required to correct CTV branding which they felt wasn’t dominate enough with the skins. CTV opted to name the app ‘widget’ to differentiate it from other projects & mobile devices.

‘Success’ was determined by number of downloads, installs, registration and app initiation by user (determined whenever data was pulled).

• Target metrics took longer than expected to meet (months later) with thousands of downloads and users, this did deteriorate quickly though with mobile apps offering more options & notifications.
• I would have liked more time to assess and test accessibility (challenging due to the technology and timeframe).
• In hindsight I may have approached registration differently. While it did convert ok (68% install—activation) it could be improved with a more immersive and engaging onboarding.