Enhancements

Local Netflix: why it required improvements, how we did it and the results achieved

#ux/ui

#mobile

#cinema

Link to app

Context (situation)

About the company

Salom Media is the company focused on production of their own series and it's on of the leaders of the region
In 2021 they have developped their own streaming platform SalomTV — where the content produced by Salom Media would be exclusive available to watch
The company is contuniously working on platform enhancements, updating it and improving UX

What is SalomTV?

Streaming platform available on TV, web and mobile, where a user could exclusively watch Salom Media series and other content

My Role & the team

Senior Product Designer
Responsible for the entire visual and user experience strategy of the platform
Management the team of 3 designer
Our team consisted of: 1 PM, 1 tech lead, 2 flutter developers, 2 golang developers, 1 QA, 3 developers for TV: Android TV, TIzen, WebOS, 1 graphic designer and 2 Product designer.

Lead Product Designer

My role

5 months

duration

2022

Year

problem (Complication)

Goals

The company set very ambitious goals we had to achieve within 6 months , and I suggested to improve the product experience to achieve these goals:

Increasing average session duration from 4min 20sec to 5min
Growing the number of daily active users from 10k to 11k
Boosting subscription revenue by a minimum of 10%

The company set very ambitious goals we had to achieve within 6 months , and I suggested to improve the product experience to achieve these goals:

Increasing average session duration from 4min 20sec to 5min
Growing the number of daily active users from 10k to 11k
Boosting subscription revenue by a minimum of 10%

The company set very ambitious goals we had to achieve within 6 months , and I suggested to improve the product experience to achieve these goals:

Increasing average session duration from 4min 20sec to 5min
Growing the number of daily active users from 10k to 11k
Boosting subscription revenue by a minimum of 10%

The company set very ambitious goals we had to achieve within 6 months , and I suggested to improve the product experience to achieve these goals:

Increasing average session duration from 4min 20sec to 5min
Growing the number of daily active users from 10k to 11k
Boosting subscription revenue by a minimum of 10%

The company set very ambitious goals we had to achieve within 6 months , and I suggested to improve the product experience to achieve these goals:

Increasing average session duration from 4min 20sec to 5min
Growing the number of daily active users from 10k to 11k
Boosting subscription revenue by a minimum of 10%

How did we find causes preventing from achieving the goals?

Internal Focus Groups

User Research: surveys and tests

"Talking directly with users and internal stakeholders is the best way to find out problem root causes"

Problem

What we need to work on in the product for achieving the goals:

Difficult content discovery on the main page
Make the content blocks more distinctive, outstanding and encouraging to click
Reorder content blocks, moving more engaging ones higher and the ones clicked the least lower on the page or completely remove them

Our Plan

Although, the plans never go perfectly as intended, it was important to have a rough overview of what we're doing and where we're going

Find out the root of the problem

Research and brainstorm available solutions

Work out tactics, focusing on long-term

Test the implementation

Check the results

Continuously improve

Researching the competitors

I've done extensive research to identify the advantages of competitors over us and how we could position SalomTV for better product market fit.

What did I focus on in the competitive research: design decisions, intuitiveness of CJM, UX copywriting and the results achieved (based on open shared info). The research was very helpful for research purposes, we've seen certain advantages and areas of improvement, so I've suggested to document it all in SWOT analysis

Main competitors

SWOT analysis

Strengths

Exclusive content
Strong market presence — we're the leaders in TV series production in region
Partnerships with actors, directors and well-known influencers
We're available on all platforms: TV, web and mobile
We focus on regional culture and interests

Weaknesses

Limited Content Library: much less than in Allplay and iTV
We're new in the streaming platforms' market
Technical challenges and performance issues
Low brand recognition
Lack of advances recommendation algorithms

Opportunities

Growing demand for streaming services
Investing in local & international collaborations
Expansion in the neighboring countries
Partnerships with mobile operators

Threats

Strong collaboration from local platforms
Piracy & Illegal streaming
Limited internet and devices in some regions
Low switching cost (both threat and opportunity)

Threats

Strong collaboration from local platforms
Piracy & Illegal streaming
Limited internet and devices in some regions
Low switching cost (both threat and opportunity)

resolution (Results)

New Design

How did we test design before rollout

A/B Testing

Usability Testing

Results:

Users interacted 27% more with personalized recommendations in the new layout
Bounce rate dropped by 15%
The redesigned Genre section didn’t significantly increase engagement with it, but users often clicked on other sections (session duration increased by 21%)

Results:

Users interacted 27% more with personalized recommendations in the new layout
Bounce rate dropped by 15%
The redesigned Genre section didn’t significantly increase engagement with it, but users often clicked on other sections (session duration increased by 21%)

Results:

Users interacted 27% more with personalized recommendations in the new layout
Bounce rate dropped by 15%
The redesigned Genre section didn’t significantly increase engagement with it, but users often clicked on other sections (session duration increased by 21%)

Feedback:

Participants were drawn to the new banners and “Premiere” tags
The “Stories” feature was positively received, described as “fun” and “snackable”
Some users didn’t notice the low-cost subscription offer at the bottom, suggesting it may need stronger visual emphasis

Feedback:

Participants were drawn to the new banners and “Premiere” tags
The “Stories” feature was positively received, described as “fun” and “snackable”
Some users didn’t notice the low-cost subscription offer at the bottom, suggesting it may need stronger visual emphasis

Feedback:

Participants were drawn to the new banners and “Premiere” tags
The “Stories” feature was positively received, described as “fun” and “snackable”
Some users didn’t notice the low-cost subscription offer at the bottom, suggesting it may need stronger visual emphasis

"The tests proved our changes helped users find content faster and boosted engagement, but also gave us clear direction on what to improve next"

Impact

So, the results

Overall User Feedback:

We’ve heard many positive feedback from the users and from our colleagues from different departments. The “Stories” section was particularly well accepted, some of our team members could even find some cool movies via the stories

Quantitative User Feedback:

Overall User Feedback:

Quantitative User Feedback:

Overall User Feedback:

Quantitative User Feedback:

+21%

Average Session Duration: Increased from 4m 20s →
5m 15s

Average Session Duration: Increased from 4m 20s → 5m 15s

+1,5K

Daily Active Users grew from 10K → 11,5K

+2min 24sec

Video Watch Time per Session: Increased from 12,9m → 15,3m

Final thoughts

This project showed how thoughtful design changes can drive real impact—boosting engagement, increasing subscriptions, and helping users find content faster.
There were risks, like changing familiar patterns and introducing new sections, but testing and collaboration helped us to make confident decisions.
The improvements not only improved the current experience but also opened doors for future features like user-generated stories and smarter personalization.

Most essentially, enhancements of the products positively impacted on the business revenue, attracted new users and increased the user engagement

This project showed how thoughtful design changes can drive real impact—boosting engagement, increasing subscriptions, and helping users find content faster.
There were risks, like changing familiar patterns and introducing new sections, but testing and collaboration helped us to make confident decisions.
The improvements not only improved the current experience but also opened doors for future features like user-generated stories and smarter personalization.

Most essentially, enhancements of the products positively impacted on the business revenue, attracted new users and increased the user engagement

This project showed how thoughtful design changes can drive real impact—boosting engagement, increasing subscriptions, and helping users find content faster.
There were risks, like changing familiar patterns and introducing new sections, but testing and collaboration helped us to make confident decisions.
The improvements not only improved the current experience but also opened doors for future features like user-generated stories and smarter personalization.

Most essentially, enhancements of the products positively impacted on the business revenue, attracted new users and increased the user engagement

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