

Netflix Eyes Even More Streams With TV Interface Makeover

Netflix today is rolling out a revamped interface for TVs that's intended to make the experience less grid-like and more personalized.

November 13, 2013


The update means that the layout will look the same across most Netflix devices on TVs, and Netflix will be able to more easily release updates in the future. It will roll out to Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, new Blu-ray players, new Smart TVs, and Roku 3 (Roku 2 coming next year.)

Updates include three large, rotating images alongside each movie or TV show description that Netflix says will provide more context on each title. The first image will come from the content provider, while Netflix will select the other two photos in house.

But while Netflix has plenty of content,"I don't think we were doing a good job at answering the question, why should you watch this?" Chris Jaffe, vice president of product innovation from Netflix, told PCMag.

Netflix TV Experience

"The future of TV is personalization and making it more relevant," he said, so this update includes personalized details such as whether friends have watched a particular title, how a title relates to a title you watched before, or whether a title won awards. Netflix will recommend The League because you watched It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, for example, or point out that House of Cards is an Emmy-winning drama.

Can't remember which episode of a TV show you watched last? Shows like House of Cards will now have images for each episode, as well as a synopsis and viewing progress bar.

If you're on the hunt for something new, Netflix promised a more visual and predictive search engine. "After typing in just a letter, results for titles start to appear in a highly visual way," Netflix said. "Actor and director search is also visual and available from the same screen."

This same redesign is also coming to the Kids section, which - for the first time - will be available on Smart TVs, Blu-ray players, and the Roku. To make sure kids are watching appropriate content, the Kids section will have a blue tint, so parents know with a quick glimpse that junior is watching The Lorax and not Breaking Bad.

Also new to the Roku is the Profiles feature that rolled out in August.

Netflix also promised faster load times; say goodbye to that red Netflix splash screen before a show starts.

There's also native voice support, which works on the Xbox 360 now, but will work on other devices as they add voice-activated options in the future, Jaffe said.

Developing a New Operating System
One of the challenges of rolling out this update was creating something that would work on a powerful machine like the PS3 or Xbox as well as a low-power gadget like the Roku.

Previously, Netflix relied on open source technologies like WebKit. "But WebKit is a big, big platform [and] we had to economize because the Roku couldn't handle it," Jaffe said. "We needed to essentially build our own operating system."

Netflix developed its own programming language that's largely driven by JavaScript, ditching HTML5 and WebKit along the way. "The only things we put in the platform were what we needed," Jaffe said. "We had to economize very much along the way and make tough decisions" during a process that took about a year.

In April - unbeknownst to users - Netflix tried it out, going head to head with WebKit to make sure it worked, the results were positive.

For now, this will just be on TVs. The interface is really designed around the TV experience and using the remote or controller to go left, right, up, and down. In terms of the operating system, "we don't have any firm plans" to bring it to mobile, Jaffe said, "but it's pretty robust and light weight, so there's no technical reason why it couldn't."

Ultimately, the goal is to increase viewing time - up from the already impressive 5 billion hours users streamed in the most recent quarter. "We have high confidence that this will raise viewing," Jaffe said.

The launch begins today and will likely take about two weeks before people see it on all their devices.

For more, check out PCMag Live in the video below, which discusses the Netflix update.


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