Now, all streaming video applications look the same.
It’s hard to tell them apart, but does that matter?
Amazon revealed a dramatic overhaul of Prime Video earlier this week, and the overwhelming response was “finally.” Prime Video has become a time capsule, with an unattractive, sluggish UI that appeared to be trapped in 2010. Meanwhile, Amazon’s streaming competitors have constantly changed and improved the user experience.
And it appears that Prime Video’s designers took note. Because another striking feature of the app’s redesign is how closely Amazon’s video offering now mimics Netflix. Is there a navigation icon column on the left side? Check. Top ten list with large numbers? Yes, it is on the home screen. And, similar to Netflix, Prime Video has included “mega carousels” of poster-style artwork that expand to landscape and begin auto-playing a video when you hover over them.
People don’t appear to mind the parallels, based on comments on our story and comments I’ve seen on Twitter, Reddit (1, 2, 3), and elsewhere. This user interface has steadily evolved into the de facto norm for Netflix, Disney Plus, HBO Max, and now Prime Video. And consistency is important here; we’re mostly utilizing all of these sites to get the entertainment on each one, and having a consistent interface between them should make it easier for everyone.
However, there is a possibility of misunderstanding. When you’re looking for the new Lord of the Rings series on Prime Video, you could find yourself lazily scrolling around HBO Max or Paramount Plus.
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by u/TheJadedSF from discussion Amazon is giving Prime Video its biggest redesign in years
in technology
When corporations have tried to turn the tables and redesign the streaming app user experience, it hasn’t always gone well. Hulu had a fully revamped design a few years back, which was chastised for favoring aesthetic above utility; instead of displaying you as much stuff as possible, it featured one or two items at a time with full-screen artwork and huge, thin-weight typography.
Hulu scaled back and reversed many of the more extreme changes in the months and years that followed, eventually settling on something more recognizable. It hasn’t fully embraced left-side navigation like everyone else, but all of the key parts are comparable.
So we’ve definitely determined the “proper method” to design user interfaces for video streaming apps. But that doesn’t imply the problems are over. In the case of Prime Video, Amazon still offers seasons of TV series separately. I’ve discovered that this is a huge nuisance for some people, and it hasn’t changed or improved with the redesign. However, the corporation is attempting to eliminate showing several versions of the same movie based on video quality. Amazon has rectified the 4K / HD divide for more than half of the Prime Video portfolio since the beginning of this year and is actively working its way through the remainder.
Many users would also like the ability to permanently limit what appears in all of these content carousels to only what is included with their Prime subscription – and nothing else. But don’t expect that to help Amazon’s bottom line in terms of subscriptions and rentals / purchases. Amazon says that it will continue to gather user input and improve the new Prime Video. You can’t call it original, but it’s unquestionably more usable than before.