How the new era of content consumption spawned the continue watching feature.
Introduction
The continue watching feature has been around for a while. In fact it’s strange to think of time without the continue watching feature on the streaming platforms. Normally placed on the homepage in a dedicated content rail, the simple to use feature enables users to jump back into content they have started.
Watching Content On-The-Go
When designing an OTT platform a UX designer needs to think about different types of users in various scenarios to ensure a seamless flow of user experience across devices. One feature that helps this seamless experience is the continue watching feature. The feature ensures that users can pick up where they left off, with whatever device they are using. Whether they are at home watching on a TV or commuting to work with a Tablet, each time a user logs into their account the backend remembers their watch history. It’s a must have feature for all OTT providers to ensure a great user experience across all devices.
Binge Watching
Binge watching was a term that was coined in the last ten years with the rise of online streaming services. It’s the practice of watching multiple episodes of a series in rapid succession.
A popular binge worthy programme is exactly what TV producers, OTT platforms providers and even directors are aiming for. It incentivises new users to sign up, retains existing users and in turn increases monetisation methods benefiting everyone involved.
Building a platform that makes binge watching easy and effortless is essential in the success of an OTT business. Autoplay next episode is obviously the main feature that comes to mind when referring to binge watching but the continue watching feature also plays a huge role.
Being able to jump back into shows quickly and efficiently creates a platform that is ‘binge watch ready’. Remember that not all users are trying to find something new to watch, more often that not end-users are enjoying a new series or film and simply want to ‘continue watching’.
The Rise in Popularity of TV Shows
The origins of the continue watching feature can be traced back to the rise in popularity of TV shows. When considering Movies most users finish the film in one sitting, so the continue watching feature becomes almost redundant.
Shows on the other hand are seen as a more popular choice for jumping in and out of, this is typically due to a show having a much greater run time in total than a feature length film.
The rise in popularity for TV shows and therefore the ‘continue watching’ feature are due to a few factors.
1. Streaming Sites
The development of streaming sites meant that directors, actors and producers have more freedom to make TV shows more appealing, exciting and simply better due to reaching more audiences across the globe. Shows are now readily available, you never miss an episode, which gave birth to higher budgets for shows and therefore better content.
2. No Waiting
Okay there’s still a little bit of waiting around for new series to come out but that’s after binge watching all the episodes consecutively in two days. It’s safe to say that we’ve got it easy compared to the older generation when they had to wait a week for the next Friends episode to air on TV.
3. Long Form Format
Think about one of the first biggest TV shows to hit Netflix; Breaking Bad. The breakthrough TV show initially aired on AMC but Netflix made it into one of the most successful TV shows to date by simply enabling continuous availability.
Netflix’s service gave birth to the ‘continue watching culture’ and spawned a new era of TV. After Breaking Bad we have had waves of huge TV shows following the same popularity, such as, Game of Thrones, Stranger Things and Orange is the New Black.
Conclusion
The ‘continue watching’ feature is clearly an essential part of the new era of content viewing. Although it’s a simple to use feature the benefits it brings to end-users are significant. The way in which we watch content has dramatically changed over the years and small features like this make a massive impact on the viewing experience for audiences.
DIAGNAL offers Continue Watching feature, and other premium features that end-users have become familiar with, for all their template apps.
To learn more about how DIAGNAL can help your business talk to one of our specialists today
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