LOS GATOS, Calif.—Netflix has announced that starting May 19 it will begin rolling out a major upgrade to its user interface and the TV experience it offers streaming subscribers with a much more flexible homepage that is capable of changing to reflect a user’s search and viewing habits.
The platform's flexibility will also make it much easier for the streaming service to innovate and rapidly change its offering, Netflix executives stressed in a briefing with the press.
Other notable new features include improved generative AI features for search and discovery.
“The new Netflix TV experience is still the one you know and love — just better,” said chief product officer Eunice Kim. “When we first started thinking about this project, we wanted to create an experience that was more flexible for our broad entertainment offerings, more intuitive and responsive to our members’ needs, and capable of elevating the most thrilling moments on Netflix.”
In announcing the new UI, Netflix CTO Elizabeth Stone highlighted the flexibility that it will provide the streaming service in the future. “What’s most exciting to me is how our new TV experience gives us the ability to evolve and innovate more easily going forward," Stone said. "That’s how we’re going to make the Netflix people know even better. And it’s how we’ll continue to connect them with even more shows, movies and games they’ll love.”
Reacting to the announcement, Richard Greenfield, an analyst at Lightshed Partners noted that the new platform will also make it much harder for other streamers to copy Netflix's UI.
"Virtually every change Netflix has made to its on-screen user interface has been copied by their streaming competitors," he wrote in a note to investors. The new "UI is nearly impossible to copy as there is no set UI to copy. A streaming competitor would need to copy the underlying code Netflix has built rather than the simple UI look and feel as they have repeatedly done in the past. In turn, Netflix hopes to further distance themselves from their steaming competitors by offering an immersive interface others cannot replicate."
Kim and Stone described the new features and experiences as follows:
- "Discover Your Next Great Watch More Easily: We’re putting all the information you need to make an informed choice about what to watch front and center. That way you can better focus on what makes each title relevant for you, with callouts like `Emmy Award Winner' or `#1 in TV Shows.'”
- "More Visible Shortcuts: Until now, shortcuts to Search and My List were somewhat hidden on the left-hand side. We’re moving them to the top of the page where they’re more noticeable and easier to access."
- "Better Realtime Recommendations: We’re making the recommendations on the homepage more responsive to your moods and interests in the moment."
- "Elevated Design: The new homepage has a clean and modern design that better reflects the elevated experience you’ve come to expect on Netflix."
The mobile experience is also getting some new features, which they described as follows:
- "A New Way to Search: We’re also exploring ways to bring Generative AI to our members’ discovery experience, starting with a search feature on iOS that is a small opt-in beta. This will allow members to search for shows and movies using natural, conversational phrases like `I want something funny and upbeat.'"
- "A New Way to Discover: 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 be able to tap to watch the whole show or movie immediately, add it to My List, or share with friends."
Netflix also released a video showing changes to its UI over the years and its briefing with reporters describing the new interface.
