Language UX for Streaming Entertainment
- Larry McGrath
- Jun 24
- 4 min read
Updated: Jun 28
Problem
How do people around the world enjoy movies and tv shows in their preferred language – whether watching with subtitles, dubbing, or the original language? Answering the question is crucial to ensure that streaming entertainment remains accessibile for diverse users.
Amazon Prime Video supports 134 audio and 81 subtitle languages across 247 countries. Yet, it's not always easy for users to know what's available. In India, for example, Prime Video offers 14 languages. Fans of Tollywood cinema might expect dubbed audio in Kannada, only to begin playing a movie and realize that no option for the language can be found.
The goal of my research for Prime Video was to investigate the optimal moments to surface language controls in order to promote engagement and reduce churn on the streaming platform. We hypothesized that international audiences want convenient options to browse movies and tv shows without the cumbersome experience of hunting for available languages in Playback. The project brought my team of four researchers to Brazil, India, and Mexico, where we observed users – especially multi-lingual families – making entertainment decisions on mobile and television streaming platforms.
Process
Our first task was to understand how international users stream entertainment and what they desire from language controls. We selected three countries – Brazil, India, and Mexico – because they're home to growing customer populations that watch movies and tv shows outside their native languages. Streaming entertainment also looks much different. Similar to the majority of Americans, international audiences also prefer action and adventure content. In Mexico, however, 39% of users watch with subtitles and 45% with dubbing (just 28% of Americans watch foreign-language films with dubbing). In India, 82% of streaming entertainment happens on mobile. We devised a two-step project that assessed wide attitudes and narrowed down to specific behaviors on streaming platforms – encompassing users' thoughts and actions – in order to arrive at recommendations for designing the language UX on Prime Video.
Mental models surveys – We asked 800 respondents in each country about their expectations from regional streaming platforms in order to assess where Prime Video's offering stands among peers.
In-person usability sessions – Using the survey insights, we brought 14 participants into laboratories and observed their language-browsing journeys on regional streaming platforms in order to uncover current pain points and future UX opportunities.
Research: Mental Models Surveys
Using Qualtrics and Prime Video's customer database, we designed the survey to assess three aspects of respondents' streaming entertainment experience:
Taste in genres of movies and tv shows
Preferred language controls when watching foreign-language content
Satisfaction with regional streaming platforms (CSAT questions)
Thanks to prior marketing research, we honed the questions to the relevant streaming platforms for Brazil, India, and Mexico:
We learned that users in each country switched among platforms to find movies and tv shows when looking for the subtitle and dubbed audio controls. Although I can't share private data publicly, trends came into view that users felt exhausted by the fractured array of platforms and desired a simplified hub not just to find all their content in one place. Users also desired a single source for organized language settings.
The results sharpened our research focus to examine where users looked for language controls on streaming platforms and why they switched between platforms in the next phase of the project.
Research: Usability Sessions
For digital platforms used across multiple devices, it was important that we set up laboratories with both mobile devices and televisions so that we could observe diverse UX patterns. It's also crucial that participants interact with real devices. Capturing the steps in the language UX, as well as the pain points therein, required actual stimuli.
During one-hour sessions, we followed participants and tabulated their clicks while they looked for language controls on seven surfaces of streaming platforms:
Home carousels
Home tabs, filters, and menus
Search
Platform settings
Account information
Detail pages
Player chrome
The data consisted of 36 participants' attempts to located language controls on 15 streaming platforms. By recording the sequence of attempts – organized into first, second, and third attempts – we identified trends among where participants expected to control the language and UX and the surfaces that they turned to after encountering dead ends.
Data Analysis
The data revealed a wide discrepancy between users' expectations and the actual locations of language controls on streaming platforms. Most participants expected to find language controls when browsing content in the initial Discovery phase of their journey. Netflix and Disney, as examples, offered filters on Home and tabs on Detail pages that enabled users to select languages. Yet on Prime Video, participants were accustomed to selecting subtitles, dubbing, and original languages in the final Playback phase of their journey after beginning a movie or show. The result was an uneven user journey.
We collaborated with two Designers and a Product Manager to create journey maps representing an ideal language CX. Controls surfaced early in users' interaction with Prime Video, providing users with upfront control when browsing titles.
Results
In a series of Design workshops, we compared the ideal language journey maps that resulted from our project with the initial maps that kicked off the project. By noting where pain points ensued, our team developed design concepts for new language features, including:
Detail page flyout menus that enable users to control language settings for a single title
Navigation elements such as tabs, filters, and carousels that sort content by available language options
Platform settings to indicate when languages are not available for users' desired movies and shows
As a result, Prime Video developed a new Language of Preference control in Settings. In addition, the journey maps continue to serve as durable artifacts in our research library. They're available for continued explorations to refine the platform's language UX.
That’s all for now! More details won’t be shared for proprietary reasons.
Comments