Netflix: the good, the bad, and the ugly
The streaming service we all know and love. Netflix has grown to be the most popular service by far. In turn, every other streaming service looks at Netflix for inspiration. But do they actually do everything right? What are the strong suits of Netflix, and where (if there are any) could Netflix use some improvements?
This blog is part of my new series ‘the good, the bad, and the ugly’. In this series I take a look at some of the bigger OTT streaming services out there, and what sets them apart. Netflix is the first in the series, with more to follow!
Please note that these findings are my personal opinion. I am also working with the availability of the streaming service in my country of origin, The Netherlands. Your personal experience may differ based on your location, as well as the specific devices you use. Even the network connectivity situation you find yourself in, and which version of the apps or website you may have, may impact your results.
What are we looking at in this series
As this is the first blog in the series, I think it’s good to first explain what I’m actually going to look at. Because Netflix is big, and encompasses a lot. For the sake of this blog series I’m actually going to make it really simple, and focus on just a few specific points. Why I’ve chosen these specific points? I think you can focus on a lot of aspects of the various OTT services out there. But these to me are important, as they have significant influence into how users interact with these kinds of apps. So for the sake of this blog series, I’ve chosen to look specifically at the following points:
- Platform availability
Where is the streaming service available? Do they have big screen apps, console apps, are they available on set-top-boxes. Which mobile operating systems and web browsers do they support. - Logging in
You’d be surprised how super hard logging in can be. Especially on the big screen. What login options does the service have available, and what could be improved? - Responsiveness
Having a website is one thing, but how does it scale? Does it work well with both smaller and enormous screens? - Ease of Watching
I don’t want to have to click 10 times before I can start watching something, do you? How quick can I find and start watching the content of my preference? - Discoverability
As easy as I can start watching something, if I’m having a hard time finding the content of my choice then I’m immediately going to the competitor. How quickly can I find the content of my liking, and how does the service help me to discover the content of my choice?
Testing Conditions
Understandably, results may vary depending on the devices that are being used. A Samsung television doesn’t have to function the same as one from LG. So when you’re reading through this blog series, please be aware that you could be seeing things differently.
In my tests I’ve made use of the following devices:
- OnePlus NORD (mobile phone)
- LG OLED55C8P (smart tv)
- Windows 10 on a desktop, with Google Chrome browser (PC)
About Netflix
Is this chapter really necessary in the case of Netflix? The big red N. The DVD renter gone internet. The biggest of the OTT bunch. Whenever I describe my job to friends, I always explain that you have Netflix. But you also have other streaming services, and that I work with some of them. Kind of says enough right? Netflix is the one streaming service that we all know, love, and probably have a subscription for. Famous for their so-called Netflix Originals, the Netflix series and movies have taken the world by storm. With big hits like ‘Stranger Things’, ‘The Witcher’ and ‘Elite’, they are the place to go for a good long binge.
So why do we like Netflix so much? Is it just the content, or do we like more? Are the apps so amazingly smooth? Does Netflix do a great job at making you watch content? In short: what makes Netflix the best OTT streaming service?
Platform Availability (10/10)
I don’t envy the Netflix developers who need to manage all of these devices. You can actually tell how much effort goes into this, based on the fact that Netflix has dedicated a full website on which devices they actually support, rather than the typical list hidden somewhere on the support pages. Netflix is literally everywhere! There is no relatively new device I own, that doesn’t have an app of Netflix available.
Now, the reason Netflix gets a 10 out of 10 for platform availability, is not because they have every device type covered. Yes, they are on mobile phones. Yes, they are on Smart TV and gaming consoles. Yes, your browser also works just fine with Netflix. That’s not the important detail here. It’s the fact that support goes beyond just the typical ‘device that came out 3 or 4 years ago’. Especially on older mobile phones and televisions, Netflix continues to be available, and work relatively smoothly. You don’t see this very often, so massive points to Netflix for being everywhere. Literally everywhere.
Logging In (8/10)
Getting access to your streaming service should be easy. Login, click an item, and watch. Even though you don’t login that often, it can be a frustrating experience when things are not setup easily. The typical handheld devices (mobile phones and tablets) are easy to implement. Login screen with a field for an email and password, and you’re done. The same applies to the website and the desktop application. So, are we done? Do they get a 10/10? Well… no, sadly not. There are some aspects of logging in where Netflix could still make some improvements.
Two Factor Authentication
If you are not familiar with ‘two factor authentication (2FA)’, it’s this principle where you use a secondary device (often your mobile phone), as a means of verifying you are actually who you claim to be. Through sending text messages to a physical device, or using so-called authenticator apps, you can add an extra verification step, next to the username and password. It’s an extra layer of security, where passwords are often reused or even easy to guess. Netflix however, sadly doesn’t offer this (at the time of writing). They could certainly add 2FA if they want to increase security for their users.
Unfriendly Bigscreen
Have you ever tried logging into your account on a television? I’m very curious how you experienced the whole ordeal. And I’m calling it a whole ordeal, because logging in on televisions can be really really annoying. You obviously have to work with the TV-remote, with which you have to navigate your way onto the screen. You can take a look at how Netflix has this implemented in the image below.
How this can be improved you ask? I think the answer to that is very simple, it’s a feature you see with many apps lately: connect or activation codes. Again by leveraging a device where it’s a lot easier to enter credentials, you show a code on the big television. Simply login on your mobile phone, enter the code, and you’re immediately connected on the TV. Implementing such a simple flow will immensely improve the login interaction, removing the need for using that pesky TV-remote.
What confuses me on the above, is that the functionality seemingly does exist on the side of Netflix! While browsing through the support pages, a mention was made that you can connect your Samsung Blu-ray device via connect code. The website to enter it certainly still exists: netflix.com/activate. But why this is not offered on my LG television, remains a mystery to me. Missed opportunity?
Responsiveness (8.5/10)
A picture paints a thousand words, as the saying goes. In the screen above, you can see the same screen size, but opened on different devices. As you can see on the right, on the mobile phone, this is perfect. Items are fairly big, texts are clearly visible and can be read without problems. Most importantly, the menu is hidden behind a hamburger, and folds out when clicking on the icon. So you’d expect this behaviour to be consistent across all devices, wouldn’t you? Wrong! On the left you have my desktop computer, with a smaller than you might expect window. Where are the nice hamburger menu and readable texts? It appears that Netflix has chosen to serve different versions of their website, depending on which device you are using. That’s fair, given that you normally don’t view Netflix on a small window in the browser. Nonetheless, it’s not user friendly and for that reason they don’t get the full points.
Making It Big
I wasn’t lying when I was writing the paragraph title. It’s great to see that the website makes use of the full 2560x1440 screen. They made it big, but isn’t it too big? When opening the website, I am immediately greeted by a video that starts playing. It’s nice, and kind of cool. But on the other hand, where is my content? I can barely see ‘My List’, down at the bottom. As cool as the instant trailer is, which I’m sure will also serve a good purpose (it’s there to get people to instantly start watching), doesn’t it take a bit too much of the screen real-estate? I’m curious if Netflix has done much A/B testing here, and determined that this was the right size. Because personally, I would think that showing an extra carousel would serve a better purpose. It’s not bad, but it’s not great either.
Ease of Watching (10/10)
If there’s anything Netflix does well, it’s how easy and quick you can start watching something. In many cases you don’t even have to select a title and you’re already watching. How Netflix manages this? Well…
User Inactivity
The main thing that I personally find really well developed, is the way users are triggered, or maybe dragged, into watching content when they do one thing: nothing! Netflix makes heavy use of the fact that you’re sitting still. No user interaction means that you must be doing one of two things. Either you’re reading what’s on screen, or you’re indecisive about your choice. And that’s exactly what Netflix capitalises on: they start the content for you. They take away the choice, or rather: they make it for you. The hurdle is taken away and before you know it you’re watching something you didn’t initially pick to watch. It’s an incredibly powerful way to push certain content towards users.
Application Layers
Another aspect that Netflix has nailed down very well is the way the navigation paradigms are built up. In layman’s terms, this means that the amount of clicks it takes for users to reach the video from the initial screen, is very little. If we take the website as an example, these are some paths to reach content.
As I said, a picture speaks a thousand words right? Well, in this case it’s only nine words and three arrows, but you get what I mean. The amount of layers that the Netflix website uses is very limited. It takes users just one click (or even none, see above) for them to start watching content. No detail pages about the series of movie, no selection of episodes. It’s a very powerful way of removing some of the hurdles that users need to take for them to start watching. After all that’s what Netflix wants, for users to watch content.
Discoverability (6/10)
When we’re talking about discoverability, I think it’s good to first explain what Netflix seems to focus on with their website and apps. Because it’s certainly not the discovery of series or movies by users themselves. Netflix is all about carefully crafted and meticulously curated content. Search comes second, or maybe even third. Many of the features that Netflix offers, like the use of user inactivity for starting content, is all designed with one thing on mind: getting users to watch the content that Netflix wants them to watch. Carefully curated carousels on the homepage, and fancy animations and cool trailers to immediately get the interest sparked. All so that you watch what Netflix wants. But what if you don’t? What if you’re looking for that long lost childhood movie, or that obscure series your best friend told you about?
Searching is hard
If there is one thing I wish Netflix would improve, it’s their search functionality. Yes, there is a search button. Yes, it gives results vaguely close to my search query. But also often not at all, and in many cases I don’t understand the search results. Let’s look at this example search query I did for my all time favourite: Harry Potter.
Okay, so Netflix doesn’t offer Harry Potter movies in my country, what a shame. So what does that mean in terms of search results? As you can see, there are a lot. A lot of movies and tv shows that somehow match my search query. But what are they? Are they recommendations based on my query, are they similar movies, do they have the same actors or are they in the same genre? Are they even movies or are they tv shows? I can’t tell!
If there’s one thing that I feel Netflix could improve, it’s this. Tell me what kind of search results you’ve given me. Show me if they are recommendations from the same genre, show me if they are my actual search query too. At least provide me with some information that explains why you’ve decided to show me these results, especially when they don’t (fully) match with the query. But also, allow me to filter them. What if I only want to watch for an hour or two tops, what if I don’t feel like starting a new series that requires binging? I can’t tell any of this without clicking on items. There is just an overall lack of clarity and information about my search results, with no easy way to find more details.
Curated Pages
Next to searching, there are other ways to find content. But they fall much more into the Netflix way of pushing content. It’s largely curated, and attempts to get users to watch the content that Netflix wants users to watch. Yes, there are series and movies pages for ‘ease of access’ to those specific types of content. But there are only two of those, one for series and one for movies. So users really have to rely on the curation of Netflix to find specific content. There is the option to filter on genre in this case, which is a good thing (why is it not in search?). More options for the users, still curated, but it does give the users a slightly bit more (sense of) control over what they are going to watch.
In the recent past we’ve also seen the addition of an additional curated page: ‘New & Popular’. It’s a great way for Netflix to show which content is new or coming soon, which is also definitely good for users. New is always better, right? And this is an easy way for users to stay up to date with the latest and greatest, so they can actively contribute to the talks at the water cooler (for when covid is under control). The focus remains on curated, but with these pages there are certainly options for users to find content that fits their needs or preferences.
Play Something
The most recent discoverability addition on the Netflix platform is ‘play something’. It’s currently a TV-only feature that’s yet another way of pushing curated and/or recommended content to the user. This is an ideal feature to further remove hurdles from users when they have a hard time deciding what they would like to watch. But it’s also further evidence of what Netflix wants to do: make decisions for users, or help them watch content as quick and easy as possible. It’s still helping users find content, so from a user perspective this can definitely help with discoverability.
The Results (8.5/10)
Everyone always looks at Netflix. And that’s totally understandable, Netflix is big, they have a massive user base and it’s in their best interest to offer the best experience across their apps and website. But even Netflix, to my opinion, has some points of improvement. Let’s look at the scores:
- Platform Availability (10/10)
- Logging In (8/10)
- Responsiveness (8.5/10)
- Ease of Watching (10/10)
- Discoverability (6/10)
That’s a score of 42.5 out of 50, or an 8.5 out of 10. Certainly not a bad score, and deservedly high. Did you expect that I would score them higher? They are Netflix after all. There are a lot of areas where Netflix is awesome, and if I had highlighted other aspects, the score might have been different. But for these 5 areas identified this is the score I’ve come up with.
The aspects where Netflix excels are clear. They are everywhere, and users can immediately start watching content. In the end that’s what it’s all about. To reach as many users as possible, and get them to consume. But the way Netflix achieves this could be better, they could be more user friendly. Especially when it comes to supplying the user with options to find the content of their choice.
Overall, Netflix does offer a great website and good apps, as shown by their points total. They have a massive reach, and with this, they will remain the one streaming service to look at for the foreseeable future. Even if they have (to my opinion) some areas they could improve at.
Be on the lookout for the next episode in this blog series, which will be about the massively popular game streaming platform: Twitch!
