Amazon Video | Second Screen
My Role
UX/UI Direction
Product Direction
Type of Work
UX/UI Design
Product Strategy
Design Research
Go To Market
Background
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Searching and discovering content on TV interfaces continues to be difficult. Customers struggle searching with cumbersome controls like “brick hopping” via a 5-way remote control, game controller buttons, or mini keyboards. Enter Second Screen, combining the best experiences of browse and search via mobile keyboards with the best of consumption via living room devices. Second screen promised the immediate connection between these two activities. ​​
Discovery
In our research, customers increasingly used mobile devices simultaneously while watching TV. Nielsen studies showed nearly 90% of tablet users had used their device while watching TV. Additionally, our data showed customers were using our web experience to queue up movies and shows, then watching them on their Kindle or Fire TVs.
Established competitors like Netflix, Apple, HBO Go, and YouTube entered this space with apps that offered supplemental content, device-to-device video passing, and/or playback controls. Even studios were creating second screens to complement their video releases and broadcast TV.​
PR/FAQ
In typical Amazon fashion I wrote a PR/FAQ (AKA Six Pager or Working Backwards doc). I also created a few new-to-Amazon documents to (1) explain the technology to non-tech team members (UX, marketing, and BD), and (2) to document the new UX experience for the technical teams. Typically the PR/FAQ had some of that content, but since this experience brought together multiple devices and services we found the need for separate docs.
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These new documents eventually helped us brief the executive team for the Fire Phone and Fire TV launches to showcase the new Amazon multi-screen device ecosystem (see Fire Phone launch photo with Jeff Bezos below).
Features
We identified three distinct sets of use cases where Second Screen would be helpful to customers and developed supporting features for each.
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Passing Mode (Browse on mobile, watch on big screen)
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Joining Mode (Start on big screen, join on mobile)
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Control & Companion Mode (Augment playback with mobile content)
Passing Mode
Customers gain greater control over their viewing experience across devices since they can find a video on their tablet and then pass playback to another device. If their Kindle and other TV-connected devices are compatible, they will see the Pass icon in two places: on the detail page and on the playback screen. Tapping the icon in either location opens a list of devices to which they can pass the video.
Joining Mode
Customers can also create a second screen experience when they start watching a video on their TV and join with their Kindle Fire. Customers receive notifications of playback session underway on the same Amazon account. These notifications will appear in the Kindle notifications tray. Customers can tap on the notification and join in companion mode.
Control &
Companion Mode
After customers pass a video to the TV, their Kindle Fire tablet enters Control & Companion Mode. The initial screen shows familiar player controls, like play/pause and scrub. The screen also features companion information from IMDb, including full cast, trivia & goofs, and a movie overview. If the video is supported by IMDb X-Ray, then the customer can see the actors/characters on screen, time coded trivia, and songs from the soundtrack in a companion screen.
Project Results
"Wow" Feature
At launch, Amazon Video was the only Amazon service on the Fire TV (music was a fast follow). And, since a Fire TV implied a video experience the PR team was eager to showcase the benefits of our new multi-screen device ecosystem with our unique video experiences. We were happy to oblige.
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Jeff stood on stage and lauded our new second screen capabilities to show what customers could experience with Amazon devices and services. I wrote a brief for the launch to highlighted our unique competitive advantage - Amazon produced the OS/apps, original content, and our own devices. At the time, Apple and Google were in the OS and device game but were not producing their own content.
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Sooo, OK the Fire Phone didn't exacly break any sales records, but the Fire TV ecosystem keeps expanding every year.