Analysing the HOTSTAR app
Product Breakdown
A 7-8 mins read
A case study
Introduction
Product Teardown Objective
User Case in Focus
A persona with his family, trying to get entertained by watching stuff from OTT.
Product Teardown Approach
In the teardown slides, the app has been studied in two perspectives:
Android OS is used for teardown
User journey Analysis
Home Screen of Hotstar App
User’s perspective
Product Manager’s perspective
“I want to watch cricket while working on the assignment”
Green Text - Stuff working great for the app�Red Text - Stuff that can be improved�Blue Text - Recommendations
On boarding process is intuitive and easy to get through. After installing your language of preference is asked that is really good approach.��The screen has a huge space for the ads. The screen should be more device compatible, otherwise the ads have taken up lots of space.��Recommendation: Include login button on top of home screen or at navigation bar.�Reduce the space given to ads
User journey Analysis
Home Screen of Hotstar App
User’s perspective
Product Manager’s perspective
“I see all the exclusive and live content is with premium membership only, let me buy one”
Green Text - Stuff working great for the app�Red Text - Stuff that can be improved�Blue Text - Recommendations
You can choose among different categories of content nee premium, specials, latest, news and celebrities.�There are tributes to various artists.You get recommendations based on your choices, languages and location. ��Disney+ content is available on the navigation bar, but premium content can only be accessed only from sidebar. Also there is lots of repetitive content. ��Recommendation: Bring the premium content according to the type of subscription plan user has bought. Use more filters while showing content on home screen, so no content is repeated.
User journey Analysis
Content Detail Screen
User’s perspective
Product Manager’s perspective
“This series looks good, let me see in detail how is it”
Green Text - Stuff working great for the app�Red Text - Stuff that can be improved�Blue Text - Recommendations
User can see the preview of the content, before playing them. �Content language can also be chosen before playing.�User can also send recommendations to their friends via social medias. ��The preview autoplays and it may use limited data of some users.�Users cannot binge download all the episode of a series.�No reviews from other reliable sites for reference like IMDb & Rotten Tomatoes.�
Recommendation: A cross button can be added to stop the preview of the content.
User journey Analysis
Search Bar of the App
User’s perspective
Product Manager’s perspective
“Wait let me search what are the movies of my favourite actor is present on this platform”
Green Text - Stuff working great for the app�Red Text - Stuff that can be improved�Blue Text - Recommendations
Users can simply search through search bar about any keyword, and all the stuff present related to that would be shown.��However the content shown has no differentiation signs, all the clips, news, movies etc. cannot be differentiated.��Recommendation: There can be a tag on each pane, telling what category does the content belong to.
User journey Analysis
Kids Toggle Screen
User’s perspective
Product Manager’s perspective
“My daughter is here, let me find out what is content suitable for her”
Green Text - Stuff working great for the app�Red Text - Stuff that can be improved�Blue Text - Recommendations
User can switch to a ‘Kid Mode’ from the side bar, where all the content would be sorted according to the children below age of 18.�Even content while searching from the search bar is Kids Proof.��Although the kid toggle mode can be reverted back easily.��Recommendation: Kid toggle can be shown as recommendation pop up on opening any content related to kids.
User journey Analysis
TV Tab of App
User’s perspective
Product Manager’s perspective
“My wife wants to see some serials, lets see if we can find out serials from her favourite TV channels”
Green Text - Stuff working great for the app�Red Text - Stuff that can be improved�Blue Text - Recommendations
TV section is only for the series. Users can find various channels from STAR here. ��But these channel list would be found after a long scroll, instead it should be shown on top, as these channels were not promoted on Home Screen as well.�Also most of the content is repeated again.
User journey Analysis
Sports Tab of App
User’s perspective
Product Manager’s perspective
“Finally I can now watch some sports”
Green Text - Stuff working great for the app�Red Text - Stuff that can be improved�Blue Text - Recommendations
The sports section of the app has been very well kept. Users can select among various sports, documentaries. �From analysis HOTSTAR is highly regarded as sports app among people.��The watch and play feature engages the users more, as well as the reward points incentivizes them more to watch. ��Recommendation: Watch and play feature can be extended to movies and TV, where users can watch them with friends and take fun quizzes, sing karaoke songs and other fun activities to gain reward points.
User journey Analysis
News Tab of App
User’s perspective
Product Manager’s perspective
“But wait first let me see the news headlines first.”
Green Text - Stuff working great for the app�Red Text - Stuff that can be improved�Blue Text - Recommendations
UI for the news part seems good. You can choose to watch news from different channels either live or clippings.��But these channel list are limited, and users cannot choose among news channel, as in what should be the priority of these channel.��Recommendation: There should be trending section, along with algorithm to show to news channel according to the preference of the user. Written news would also work for lazy viewers. Local news channels should also be included into these lists.
User journey Analysis
While playing the video
User’s perspective
Product Manager’s perspective
“Alright let's watch a series, oh wait let me skim through my emails quickly (multitask).”
Green Text - Stuff working great for the app�Red Text - Stuff that can be improved�Blue Text - Recommendations
Non intrusive settings feature that can be manipulated with ease, without disturbing the viewing even on a handheld screen is good.��On pressing play video button, it does not directly opens into full screen like it does ideally in other OTTs. User has to take another step, of pressing full screen button to open the video player. ��Recommendation: A picture in picture play option would encourage users to continue using the product without interruption, while multitasking.
Recommendations from User Feedback
Recommendations from User Feedback
User search with a specific title in content
Assisted search can be used to encourage user to explore more content
Keyboard opens in two steps in Existing UI�Instead keyboard should open on 1st tap on search icon
Evaluation
Post onboarding, a customer has a two step feedback loop: Explore Content & View Content
Explore Content�“Even if I don’t know what to watch, I can login to hotstar, they have lot of good content”
View Content�“ The UI is so great that even if the content is freely available, I prefer to watch it on Hotstar.”
OTT Aspiration
How these steps influence Engagement & Retention ?
ENGAGEMENT
RETENTION
Customization�Single account, multiple users, Unique ID
1. Even in multi-user sharing accounts UI must be unique for all - Downloads/Watchlist/Suggestions
2. FOMO: Share and suggest what user is watching in real time, watch latest content friends are watching.�
Quick Search and Suggestions�Content which user is not aware exists, but will like �1. Search optimized for content discovery - longtail/regional/popular�2. Content Merchandising - ratings, description�3. New Categories - Celebrities/News/Health
Exclusive Content�Highlight this to customer regularly�1. Sports: IPL/EPL�2. Hotstar Specials�3. Disney/Premium�4. Exclusive TV/Movies��Account Sharing�User doesn’t necessary want subscription but the account is shared with friends and family
Priority Grid to improve engagement and retention
Account Customization
Assisted search & language sort
Remove browser fatigue
Theme based suggestion
Shared Watchlist
Uninterrupted Viewing UI
Trending Section
Content Merchandising
1 Tap access to Premium
Faster Access to Navigation
Resources(Cost)
Time (Value)
Learnings and Recommendations
Hotstar has room to improve in the nitty-gritties of UX and retention rate of customers. However, it excels at converting new users into paying customers and scores well on task completion metrics.
Key Strengths
Key Improvement Areas
It is far easy to sit down and critique an app.��As a PM, I understand and acknowledge the hard work of all the hustlers behind the scene.��What seems trivial may be a well thought and data driven decision from the team.��But Hola! �Due credit is obviously owed to the talented minds behind the scenes of Hotstar.
Any Questions?�I can volunteer if more analysis is needed :)
Author:
Niket Kalia
www.reachouttoniket.wordpress.com��@Ni_ket��Niket Kalia