Bleep TV


Date: November 2015
Client: Sling TV
Categories: Prototype, Usability Testing

Objective: We created BleepTV in order to test certain concepts and features without any recognizable association to Sling TV. The first concept we wanted to challenge was the organization of content. Would users have a better grasp of the content we offer if it was structured in a different way? This prototype includes a grid guide for live tv. Is this a feature that users will like? We also included a notification system, something we haven’t had in the past. Would users find this notification system useful? What types of notifications do users want to receive? Lastly we wanted to capture the overall impressions users had for a service identical to Sling TV but with a different name.

Participants

We wanted to test BleepTV against users that had experience with Sling TV so we screened the first 16 participants. We asked them which streaming services they’ve used in the past and if they selected Sling TV, they were given the test. The last 14 participants did not receive the screening.

Navigation

BleepTV is broken down into 4 pages. Two pages (Shows and Movies) are for on-demand content, one is for live tv (Live TV) and the last page (My TV) is a customizable mix of everything. Previous research (San Francisco 2016) has shown that users are confused by the current selection of pages in Sling TV. We also have evidence that users have a difficult time discerning live content from on-demand content with the current presentation. BleepTV aims to simplify the selections for the user and place a clear distinction between live and on-demand content.

Task: At the top of the screen you should see four tabs: My TV, Live TV, Shows, and Movies. Please describe what you think each of these sections offer and what you would expect to find in each section.

Conclusion

Clearly, the users had no difficulty discerning the different categories. We may consider adjusting our navigation since the current tabs create a certain amount of confusion.