Netflix is planning a major overhaul of its home page on TV sets, as it continues to push into areas like games and live events. The company says that the new home page will roll out to users in the next few weeks and months, depending on location.
“This is not the first change we’ve made to our home page,” says Eunice Kim, Netflix’s chief product officer, in a briefing with reporters. “We’ve been constantly improving it over the last 12 years, mostly behind the scenes, but now, thanks to a combination of new technology and the expansion of our entertainment offerings, we think it’s time to take a giant leap forward.”
The new layout is more clean and modern, featuring visual elements for shows and movies while also managing to cram in more relevant information about them. Titles will receive callouts that highlight popularity, awards or other features, while shortcuts that had been relegated to the left side of the screen will now appear at the top.
The company is also overhauling its recommendation engine to be “more responsive to your moods and interests in the moment.”
Netflix, of course, built its original apps around on-demand TV shows and movies. While that is still at the heart of the offering, live events lime NFL games on Christmas Day, as well as a slate of games, require a more malleable approach.
“Our current TV experience was built for streaming shows and movies. This one is designed to give us a more flexible canvas now and in the future,” says Kim. “We are always going to keep sight of what we think is the best experience for our members, particularly driving discovery and engagement with all of the movies and shows and live events and games that they love. And we believe that the improvements to the member experience will ultimately drive lots of great outcomes for us as well.”
The streaming giant also previewed a few other products that it plans to ship in the coming months, including a TikTok-style vertical video feed featuring clips and trailers from its shows and movies (users can click and be taken to the full episode or film) that ill be designed for mobile viewing on the go.
“We know that swiping through a vertical feed on social media apps is an easy way to browse video content, and we also know that our members love to browse our clips and trailers to find their next obsession,” Kim says. “So in the coming weeks, we’ll be testing a vertical feed filled with clips of Netflix shows and movies to make discovery easy and fun. You’ll see a row on your mobile home page, and the feed will feature clips from your top picks for you. From there, you’ll be able to tap to watch the whole show or movie immediately, or add it to my list, or share the title with friends.”
In addition, Netflix is partnering with OpenAI on a generative AI search tool that will allow users to ask Netflix for specific recommendations using conversational language.
“This company has always had a unique ability to marry incredible technology with incredible entertainment. That’s our superpower,” says chief technology officer Elizabeth Stone. “Everything starts with great shows and movies that people love. But if you think about all of the areas where Netflix has a big advantage, our reach, our recommendations, our fandom, technology enables all those things. That technology includes AI.
“We want you to be able to discover shows in movies using natural conversational phrases, like, ‘I want something funny and upbeat,’ or ‘I want something scary, but not too scary, and also maybe a little bit funny, but not like, ha ha funny.’ Believe it or not, that search phrase will actually yield results in the new experience,” she adds.