Mobile Product, Strategy Design
Overview
By focusing on the entire life cycle of new films and TV shows, we design innovative marketing and promotion solutions for all scenarios.
Outcome
The design changes have increased reservation rates for new content, improved fulfillment rates after launch, and boosted user engagement with the platform's new popular resources.
Timeline
2023.4-2023.8
Tool
Figma, Protopie
Role
Product Designer
Introduction
Tencent Video app is a streaming service that offers various TV shows, movies, anime, documentaries, and more. The smooth playback mode and high-speed loading enhance the movie-watching experience for users.
4,000,000 MAU
1,220,000 Paid VIPs
Ranking 1st in Online Streaming Video in China
Context
During long-term operations, users tend to follow new trends. Streaming platforms must promote the latest trends to increase user awareness. However, the Tencent Video app lacks promotion for new content.
Goal
We aim to design new solutions and optimize operational strategies based on the life cycle of new contents. By enhancing users' perceptions of these, we aim to improve our user conversion rates and engagement.
Competitor Analysis
To find inspiration, I analyze our competitors' operational solutions and strategies related to new content.
Our domestic competitor, iQIYI, offers services to enhance the atmosphere and support the new IP throughout its life cycle, while Netflix's core pages highlight the platform's new content supply.
| New IP Name | iQIYI reservation volume | Tencent Video reservation volume |
|---|---|---|
| 1,627,000 | 289,000 |
| 1,627,000 | 289,000 |
| 1,627,000 | 289,000 |
The Wandering Earth II 
Full River Red 
Deep Sea Tencent Video lags behind its competitors with no promotion strategy or unique design for new content, which has resulted in a low reservation volume for the same TV show. In comparison, Tencent Video's reservation volume is significantly lower than that of iQiYi for the same IP.
Problems
IP Life Cycle
As new content evolves, different life stages emerge. At each stage, the promotion and marketing focus also vary. Drawing from my experience in marketing, I have identified four distinct stages in IP life cycles, which will be the basis for our next design.
Warn-up Period
From shooting to confirming the broadcast date
🎬
Serves as a preparatory period for building user anticipation and generating potential interest
Not paying enough attention may lead to low user expectations, diminished excitement and reduced confidence in renewing their membership
Premiere Period
about 2 days before and after the broadcast day
📽️
Crucial for building momentum, boosting user engagement. generating excitement for a new film
Not perceived well can lead to low interest and attendance, which also impacts its long-term success
Hot Period
From broadcast to 1 week after the broadcast
🔥
When the popularity increased, and users paid the most attention, engaging in discussions about it
Prioritize increasing the visibility of popular content to attract new users, viewer time, and revenue
Undertake Period
1 week to 1 month after the IP broadcast over
🎞️
The popularity and discussion of the show gradually decreased over time after the TV show aired its finale
Some users still want to find similar IPs to watch, while others want to know the subsequent content
Current Problems
Based on the IP life cycle, current user feedback and product development, I evaluated the issues with the current platform at every stage.
Warm-up Period
Users have limited control over the launch plans for new content
- Users struggle to find information about upcoming movie
- The new film page is inconvenient for reservations
- The reservation function is poorly designed
- The detailed page lacks essential information for decision-making
Premiere Period
User perception is weak on the first day of the new film's release
- Not allocate its resources to advertising and promotion
- Operations were not well organized
- Services lacked detail
Hot Period
The app lacks an adequate system to detect new trends and is relatively behind in creating and fostering awareness of trends
- The hot list has low visibility and few entries
- The popular list doesn't have enough subcategories
- The proportion of new trending content on the homepage is low
Undertake Period
There is no follow-up content after the drama is finished
- Low user engagement, making it difficult for users to discover new dramas after watching a popular one.
Design Modules
Next, I collaborated with the marketing team to better understand current operational methods, strategies, and resources. I then categorized the main design plans into 4 parts: Reservation capacity, push ability, information refinement, distribution scenarios.
Promotional Materials
Design Strategy
Start
Action
Shoot
Schedule
Broadcast
Poster Concept video
Shooting video
Behind-the-scenes photos & videos
Official poster & trailer
Actor live event
Information Architecture
I've been working on improving the app's promotion and distribution of new contents, which has been a challenge. I've organized the app's information structure to enhance the design of our pages.
By analyzing the current structure and identifying existing problems, we've pinpointed areas for design improvement and set delivery dates for each phase of the optimization process. This timeline also serves as a reference for our technical research.
Final Design
Design concept
After brainstorming and researching, I decided to use a unified visual symbol - Tickets - throughout the IP life cycle. This will give users a consistent impression and help maintain consistency and increase brand impact.
Design change along IP life cycle
Warm-up Period
Add a reservation button to various scenarios (focus pictures, lists, search, players, and film lists)
Homepage Banner
Search Result
New Film List
Full Screen Player Pop-up
Add reservation module to various channels
Film Channel
Comic Channel
- Redesign the new content feeds to allow users to browse and make reservations in one place
- Personal assets are reconstructed by adding reservation contents to the following list
New Movie & TV Shows
Profile
My Reservation
Redesign the detail page of the pre-release content to increase the reservation rate and encourage sharing
Detail Page (No trailer)
Detail Page (With trailer)
Posters, testimonials, introductions, cast and crew information display
Premiere Period
Utilizing the app push system, Dynamic Island, and live activity to enhance fulfillment rates
New Movie Release Reminder
Dynamic Island
Live Activity
Design a unique visual theme for the new IP detail page after it has been broadcast
Visual Theme for The Long Season
Visual Theme for The Three-Body Problem
Visual Theme for A League of Nobleman
Hot Period
Utilizing the app push system, Dynamic Island, and live activity to enhance fulfillment rates
New Movie Release Reminder
Followed Content List
Update Calendar
Add a separate hot list page and list cards in the stream
Hot Content List
Hot Content List Card
Redesign the sharing experience to encourage sharing posters
Appointment Poster Sharing
IP Poster Sharing
Comment Poster Sharing
Undertake Period
Add a recommendation module to the full-screen player to enable quick reservations
Full Screen Player Reservation
Add new recommended content to the detail page in the episode selection module
Episode Selection Module
New drama undertaking
Add a similar content collection to the streaming feeds
Similar Content Streaming Cards
Design Influence
The AB test results show that the new design and strategy has significantly increased the number of reservations and viewing time for new IPs on the platform. Additionally, user awareness of new popular features on the platform has improved.
⏰
The number of daily reservations increased from 238,000 to 500,000. The latest IP, "Joy of Life 2," exceeded 10 million reservations.
📢
Dynamic Island and live activity recall showed a significant increase in fulfillment rate by 1.31% in 14 days.
🎬
The effective playback UV of the new hot contents increased by 20.7% (from 33.1% to 40%).
👥
The active days of monthly active user increased by 0.02.
Takeaway & Future
1. Ensure efficient operation during the pre-and in-broadcast period of the IP.
New IP is crucial in attracting users, increasing viewing time, and enhancing the platform's reputation. Therefore, leveraging new IPs to drive platform revenue growth is essential. We will implement targeted strategies for key IPs based on their unique characteristics (such as actors, original books, and plots) before and during their broadcast.
Click to play/pause the video
2. Focus on the success metrics
Throughout this project, I've learned the importance of focusing on success metrics. We aimed to increase user reservations and raise awareness of new trending IPs. As a result, everything we designed had to directly contribute to these goals. It's easy to lose track, especially when discussions get caught up in minor details and lose sight of the bigger picture we aim for.
3. Make sure to consider both small details and the big picture
When designing a solution, it's crucial to consider the different stages of the IP life cycle and align them with various complex platform scenarios. Understanding the overall direction and characteristics is also essential, as is paying attention to user experience and design details.
