How do YOU use your YouView?

trophytr5

As I am now on my 3rd Humax box (2nd YouView) and being not impressed with the NextGen interface, I was wondering what market research (if any) led YouView to make these changes.

I can think of several different types of "YouViewer". I'm sure that YouViwers don't fall entirely into only one category

1.  "I want to watch this, but I'm out, so I'll record it for later".
2.  "I want to watch this but it clashes with something else, so I'll record it for later"
3.  "I want to watch this but at a time of my choosing"
4.  The Netflix viewer
5.  The iPlayer (and its competitors) viewer.

I'm definitely a type 3.  I rarely watch live TV, except for the news channels. I record everything I want to (or might want to watch) and watch it later, skipping through adverts. Skipping adverts saves about 15 minutes in each hour's viewing. 

 I subscribe to the Radio Times (the paper version) and go through it each week and mark up the programmes I want to watch. I usually set the recording schedule in the morning and leave the box to get on with it

Even the things I would watch live, F1 for example, I record and then watch the recording, so that I can rewind or pause (yes, I know that I can pause and rewind live TV) or stop and do something else, if the mood (or necessaity) takes me.

I usually manage to keep the number of recordings down to a week's worth (except for when I go on holiday)

I have a Netflix subscription but use it only if there is something I really want to see or I have nothing recorded that I want to watch.

I don't like the icons, preferring the lists in the previous version
I don't like that I can't hide the channels I would never watch
I don't like that the guide doesn't scroll off the bottom and back up to the top.

Maybe if YouView knew their audience, they would design their software to better target them.  I see nothing in the NextGen developemnt that leads me to believe this. 

Perhaps they should set up a poll on here.

Keith

Hi trophytr5 - using your classification system I would certainly strongly identify with being a type 3, with a splash of types 5 (to resolve triple clashes or those rare occasions I don't spot something that I later realise I would like to see), and a further dash of type 4 (to widen the viewing options as and when I wish).

In principle, given YouView boxes provide data back to those at YouView Towers, they should be able to model (quite a lot about) the user base without the need for the users to do anything (beyond keeping the box network connected). It is not clear to me exactly what data they capture nor whether they capture more data from next gen than current gen. In general though one should expect they have the means at their disposal to understand how people use their box.

Equally such real use data can potentially be skewed by the features and ease of use of the system at a given time, e.g. perhaps I find it easier or better to use Netflix from another device and so it appears as a customer that I am not a big Netflix user when really they need to know that I access such a feature/service via another device as it does the job better; likewise I might access content held on a single system from many other systems around the house via DLNA but my YouView box data would not demonstrate that.

What YouView could of course do is create a survey app to run on the box and prompt the user to complete suitable surveys from time to time (if the customer wishes to take part and offer such feedback). In so doing they have the potential to get such surveys directly in front of a large portion of the 2.5m box user base. Running a survey via the forum (which has no survey feature) or some external service may well not reach the parts of the user base it really needs to reach to get representative responses - arguably what might also happen if placing too much weight on simple stats derived from a smallish trials user base (stats which might not be weighted/mapped/corrected using further data to understand the nature of the  potentially semi-self-selecting and possibly slightly unrepresentative cross-section of the user base).

Roy

Hi trophytr5

Most owners of YouView boxes are with BT and TT, but your selection seems skewed towards retail users, who don't have the extras these ISPs provide.

Zapper box users don't match 1-3 at all, and nor do users of YouView on Sony TVs. What might this make YouView do different?

What might YouView, if it knew the breakdown percentages of 1-3 do different to serve each group? They are all recording now, watching later, and I don't see how the reason why can come in to it?

To me, a key differentiator is whether people record series and watch each episode quite soon after transmission, or whether they save them up to binge-watch, or even keep.

You yourself are on one side of another key differentiator; whether a user goes straight for the programmes they have pre-decided they want, or who use browse/search/discover to find something on the spur of the moment.

Something that also applies, perhaps even more, to divide catchup watchers into those two camps.

And so on....

But what of all this, anywhere, would cry 'Lists, Lists' and what 'Tiles, Tiles'?

Visionman

A YouView can be many things to many people, many of which, as Roy points out above, aren't included in your list above. Though upon perusal of it, I'm type 3 & 4. As I don't watch live TV, but I do watch live sport, which is mostly subscription these days.

trophytr5

Keith1 said:

Hi trophytr5 - using your classification system I would certainly strongly identify with being a type 3, with a splash of types 5 (to resolve triple clashes or those rare occasions I don't spot something that I later realise I would like to see), and a further dash of type 4 (to widen the viewing options as and when I wish).

In principle, given YouView boxes provide data back to those at YouView Towers, they should be able to model (quite a lot about) the user base without the need for the users to do anything (beyond keeping the box network connected). It is not clear to me exactly what data they capture nor whether they capture more data from next gen than current gen. In general though one should expect they have the means at their disposal to understand how people use their box.

Equally such real use data can potentially be skewed by the features and ease of use of the system at a given time, e.g. perhaps I find it easier or better to use Netflix from another device and so it appears as a customer that I am not a big Netflix user when really they need to know that I access such a feature/service via another device as it does the job better; likewise I might access content held on a single system from many other systems around the house via DLNA but my YouView box data would not demonstrate that.

What YouView could of course do is create a survey app to run on the box and prompt the user to complete suitable surveys from time to time (if the customer wishes to take part and offer such feedback). In so doing they have the potential to get such surveys directly in front of a large portion of the 2.5m box user base. Running a survey via the forum (which has no survey feature) or some external service may well not reach the parts of the user base it really needs to reach to get representative responses - arguably what might also happen if placing too much weight on simple stats derived from a smallish trials user base (stats which might not be weighted/mapped/corrected using further data to understand the nature of the  potentially semi-self-selecting and possibly slightly unrepresentative cross-section of the user base).

I had overlooked the data collection capabilities of the YouView boxes which could go some way to explain the changes we see in NextGen.

Thanks for reminding me.

trophytr5

Roy1 said:

Hi trophytr5

Most owners of YouView boxes are with BT and TT, but your selection seems skewed towards retail users, who don't have the extras these ISPs provide.

Zapper box users don't match 1-3 at all, and nor do users of YouView on Sony TVs. What might this make YouView do different?

What might YouView, if it knew the breakdown percentages of 1-3 do different to serve each group? They are all recording now, watching later, and I don't see how the reason why can come in to it?

To me, a key differentiator is whether people record series and watch each episode quite soon after transmission, or whether they save them up to binge-watch, or even keep.

You yourself are on one side of another key differentiator; whether a user goes straight for the programmes they have pre-decided they want, or who use browse/search/discover to find something on the spur of the moment.

Something that also applies, perhaps even more, to divide catchup watchers into those two camps.

And so on....

But what of all this, anywhere, would cry 'Lists, Lists' and what 'Tiles, Tiles'?

As usual Roy you pick up on the views of "life" that I overlook.  Because I am purely a retail Humax YouView user, I did not consider those with non-recording set top boxes.

"You yourself are on one side of another key differentiator; whether a user goes straight for the programmes they have pre-decided they want, or who use browse/search/discover to find something on the spur of the moment."

That's a bit like the difference in shopping habits between men and women.  Men go shopping to buy something.  Women go shopping for something to buy.  (Ducks below parapet!!!)

Roy

Roy1 said:

Hi trophytr5

Most owners of YouView boxes are with BT and TT, but your selection seems skewed towards retail users, who don't have the extras these ISPs provide.

Zapper box users don't match 1-3 at all, and nor do users of YouView on Sony TVs. What might this make YouView do different?

What might YouView, if it knew the breakdown percentages of 1-3 do different to serve each group? They are all recording now, watching later, and I don't see how the reason why can come in to it?

To me, a key differentiator is whether people record series and watch each episode quite soon after transmission, or whether they save them up to binge-watch, or even keep.

You yourself are on one side of another key differentiator; whether a user goes straight for the programmes they have pre-decided they want, or who use browse/search/discover to find something on the spur of the moment.

Something that also applies, perhaps even more, to divide catchup watchers into those two camps.

And so on....

But what of all this, anywhere, would cry 'Lists, Lists' and what 'Tiles, Tiles'?

Thanks for that warning. You never quite know where those ducks are going to spring from!