Radio Times is world's first-ever broadcast programme listings magazine. I designed the TV listings MVP which became the app’s most engaged feature, with sessions 4x longer than the average app session.
Problem
Magazine subscribers expectations of the new Radio Times app weren't met
Missing core feature
Users expected to see a TV Listings feature in the app to serve as digital version of their magazine listings.
Negative store feedback
"Would like to be able to view a list of what is being broadcast. Useless app."
"Don't download this expecting it to provide a TV Guide – it does not do that fundamental thing"
Research
Defining our MVP was important to a quick and successful release
Grid and list views were standard across products with TV Listings which left me thinking: what's the value of each format, and what problem is each format solving?
Hypothesis
We should build the grid format as part of the MVP because customers will find it more useful due to its programme-dense layout.
Insights
Most people use listings to see what’s on now or tonight
In a survey of 100 users, 74 said they usually use TV listings to see what’s on now or tonight. In usability testing, users found the list format easiest for completing these tasks.
"I prefer the list view more as it looks more organised and less cluttered to me. Whereas the grid view looks like a table and i don't want to look at my show timings like that."
I find the list view faster. I don`t need to look at a whole timeline; I just want to scroll down a list of channels to see what catches my eye.
Use case 1
What’s on today
74%
Use case 2
Planning ahead across the week
20%
Use case 3
Finding specific show
6%
Solution
We built a lightweight TV listings in 4 weeks
Customers can scan 150+ popular channels to see what’s on now or later that evening, defaulting to 7pm, and click into a programme to read more about the show.
For users who plan ahead, they can tab over to a future day while retaining their selected time.
Pattern reuse
We reused as many existing components as possible and surfaced existing save and reminder functionality within the programme page.
Fast follows
Preferences such as regionality, channels, and providers will be delivered in the second iteration. Grid layout is deferred to a future iteration.
Testing and rollout
We did a phased rollout to 50% of the audience before launching fully.
A usability study surfaced a usability issue which was resolved before development started.
Impact
Most engaged-with app feature, driving 4× longer sessions than sessions without Listings.
App store ratings
Since launch, Radio Times App Store ratings have stabilised, with positive feedback about Listings. Customer feature requests evolved towards regional listings.
