My experiments with OTT

When I first went to the US many years ago and was getting accustomed to the American way of doing things, a friend told me “if it is not easy, you are not doing it right”. That was in 2003.

Fast forward to 2020.

A couple of weeks ago, I tried turning on subtitles while watching a homegrown OTT series on a homegrown network. It was not easy. I was doing it right (I think). After struggling for a few minutes I got the subtitles on. And a few episodes later finally got the hang of it. Turning on subtitles should not have to be a tricky task or so I thought. But like in many other products that we design/make, UI / UX is not priority. The entire focus seems to be on building features and functionality. The User, well, he / she can go figure it out!

Not content with experiencing the difference, I spent a wee bit of time doing a comparison. Homegrown vs. American. The task was to find out how much time and how many clicks it takes to turn on subtitles and then turn them off. The results are revealing.

Here, see for yourself.

Option 1 (Homegrown): 19 Clicks and 36 seconds (Phew!)

Option 2 (Netflix + Firestick): 6 clicks and 16 seconds (Easy and quick!)

Option 1 took 3x clicks and 2x time over Option 2! Incidentally, Option 1 comes with a 30 button remote control whereas Option 2 has 10 (3x, again)! I guess as they say, less really is more.

How will we ever make world class products, if we do not pay attention to User Experience?