When Netflix changed the game with streaming, it housed content from almost every channel and studio you could hope for. But over time, these channels and studios found their own footing in the streaming industry, and almost all of them are offering their own streaming platforms.
This doesn’t mean smaller streamers cannot get a piece of this pie. If you run a niche streaming service, you can attract your own audience. But to retain long-term subscribers, you must enhance your user interface (UI) and user experience (UX).
To help you on this path of improvement, here’s how you can streamline your streaming service.
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Encourage Subscribers to Tell You About Them
One of the most common ways to enhance your UI/UX is through a deep understanding of your subscribers. The demographics and general interests of your subscribers allow you to offer personalized suggested content and create categories based on their preferences.
From a video-on-demand service to a live streaming solution, you can use this information across a variety of content niches.
Categorize Content by Genre
To make new and existing subscribers feel welcome and at home, you should categorize content by genre and niche. But you shouldn’t stop there. Instead, you can also make a point to integrate new features as well.
For example, if you add a video live-streaming API to your service, you can license sporting events or fan conferences for your audiences.
Recommend Content Using Audience Acclaim
To improve the UI/UX of your streaming service further, you need to analyze your subscribers’ watching habits beyond genres.
For example, if someone likes critically acclaimed titles, you can list all award-season favorites in one place. But if someone prefers crowd-pleasers, you can bring out those types of titles. Your app development company can integrate this feature into your platform.
Suggest Content with Their Favorite Actors
While recommending content by genre or category, like the best historical TV shows, is helpful to your users, it’s by no means the end of the line for improving the UI/UX of your streaming service.
When someone is watching a TV show, a movie, or a short film on your streaming platform, suggest other titles with the same actors or voice actors to pique their interest.
Showcase the Directors Behind Every Title
If you have ever used a movie database app, you might already know the power that directors hold over every type of media. This is also paramount to many people who subscribe to niche streaming services.
That is why it might do you well to enhance your UI/UX by adding categories for directors who bring media to life. No matter your niche, this can be a great way to show your admiration for it.
Offer Search Suggestions
This is a simple way to make your streaming service more comfortable to use, but it holds plenty of weight for improving your UI/UX. When you offer autocomplete suggestions for search queries, it helps your subscribers easily find what they need.
This is especially favorable to those who are watching content on smart TVs and do not like the hassle of typing through their remote. You can think of it as being similar to integrating SEO software.
Integrate Watch Party Features
From those who are obsessed with critic scores to those who just want to have a good time, almost everyone subscribed to a streaming service finds it more fun to watch their media with friends and family.
This is what makes solutions like a watch-party app so popular. But instead of waiting for a third party to include this option for your service, you can integrate this feature right into your streaming platform to take your UI/UX to the next level.
With these UI/UX improvements, you can give your viewers new and exciting ways to consume media that they might want to watch. This can help you set your streaming platform apart from many other competitors out there.
