lis hubert & lisa strand naviscent, llc naviscent confidential – do not copy; do not...

Lis Hubert & Lisa StrandNaviscent, LLCwww.naviscent.com

Naviscent Confidential – Do not copy; do not distribute.

Copyright © 2011 Naviscent LLC. All Rights Reserved Worldwide.

m.ComedyCentral.com, m.MTV.com, m.VH1.com

Mobile Site User TestingFor Viacom Media Networks

http://www.naviscent.com/

Confidential04/19/23 Slide 2

Study Goals

• Understand the most critical areas to address to maximize user experience

• Identify how best to maximize page views related to news, blogs and photos as well as number of videos, use of links and if/when below-the-fold content is viewed

• Measure specific device experiences and their level of usability, comparing by devices

• Understand how mobile sites compare to other sites – expectations and experiences


Methodology: About this Study

9-11 respondents per brand took part in 60 minute mobile site usability sessions

30 respondents used their own mobile device, 5 used a provided device to perform a series of tasks, including:

Open-ended exploration: visiting areas of the site that were most interesting to the visitor

Scenario-based tasks that reflect common site behavior Find out air time specific show Find (and watch) a video Find future show’s guest Find content / activity specific to brand

Jokes on Comedy Central, Music and/or Ringtones on MTV & VH1


Methodology: Respondent Totals

Device owned

(Totals)

Device Used (Totals)

Age range (Total)

Occupation; Income range

Gender

Exposed to mobile site prior to study?

Exposed to brand prior to study?

Comedy Central(Total = 11))

- Blackberry = 4

- Droid = 2- Feature Ph =

3- iPhone = 2

- Blackberry = 4


1- iPhone = 3

- 25 – 30 = 5

- 31 – 35 = 4

- 41 – 46 = 1

- 47 – 50 = 1

- Less than $40,000 = 5

- $40,000 - $75,000 = 6

- Female = 3

- Male = 8

- No = 4- Yes = 7

- Yes = 11

MTV(Total = 9)

- Blackberry = 2


1- iPhone = 4

- Blackberry = 2


0- iPhone = 4

- 18 – 20 = 1

- 21 – 24 = 1

- 25 – 30 = 5

- 31 – 35 = 1

- 41 – 46 = 1

- Less than $40,000 = 1

- $40,000 - $75,000 = 8

- Female = 7

- Male = 2

- No = 4- Yes = 5

- Yes = 9

VH1(Total = 10)

- Blackberry = 1


1- iPhone = 4

- Blackberry = 1


1- iPhone = 4

- 18 – 24 = 4

- 25 – 30 = 4

- 36 – 40 = 1

- Over 40 - 1

- Less than $40,000 = 3

- $40,000 - $75,000 = 5

- More than $75,000 = 2

- Female = 3

- Male = 7

- No = 5- Yes = 5

- Yes = 10


Respondents Enjoyed Their Sessions

“ Gossip is ALWAYS fun!” (VH1 respondent)

“These are great, I’d like even more headlines to choose from” (VH1 respondent)

“ Video clips always catch my attention, those are the things I like to see first“ - Comedy Central Respondent

“ Sometimes you’re having a crappy day, and the jokes help.” - Comedy Central Respondent

“This is kinda nice for a mobile website, sometimes things like this aren't available unless on a PC”

- MTV Respondent“Voting was really simple, that’s cool!”

- MTV Respondent


Overview

Study Goals Methodology Addressable Items

Frustrations + Recommendations + Best Practices Common Themes Across Multiple Brands Comedy Central specific MTV Specific VH1 Specific

Appendix


Finding: Across all VMN sites, respondents generally are not in a habit of going directly to a network site

Respondents indicated they would arrive at network sites through a variety of search, content, links from friends and social media

*Study Goal: Identify how best to maximize page views related to news, blogs and photos as well as number of videos, use of links and if/when below-the-fold content is viewed

Recommendation: Encourage linking to across media to engaging content Ensure seamless integration of VMN content with external media, search, and entertainment sitesMonitor referrals to understand where high quality traffic comes from, and act on the information by developing content / advertising / search partners most likely to benefit VMN

All BrandsAddressable Item: Respondents Do not Go Directly to VMN Sites


All Brands (VH1 Example)Addressable Item: Lack of “Search” Functionality


Best practices: Users should not have to search for the “search” box

Example: YouTube’s search box is prominent at the top of the page

Frustration: 6/10 expected the ability to search the site—even if the content they were looking for was on the home pageRespondents consider search to be easier, less time-consuming and also that it may consume less bandwidth

Recommendation: Include a search box similar to the full version of the siteAdd search functionality within the site and within various show or content areas Test optimal placement of search box (e.g. top of homepage, bottom of homepage, orientation within each show/content area)

VH1 Mobile Site VH1 Full Site

Respondents generally looked for search at the top or bottom of the page

Respondents expected

search “similar to the

www.site”

Best practices: Enable for error-free clicks to popular links through larger size

Example: BBC distinguishes popular links by size to make them easily clickable on touchscreens


All Brands (Comedy Central Example)Addressable Item: Some Links Too Small to Click on

Frustration: 3/11 specifically called out that some links were too small to click on An additional 2 respondents attempted to

click on links and had difficulty

*Study Goal: Understand the most critical areas to address to maximize user experience

Recommendation: Ensure most popular links are large enough for touchscreen clicking Audit the m.comedycentral.com site for overly small text links; overlap those findings with links that are used most by mobile site visitors, allowing for a glimpse into popular links that are not functioning well

Links are too small for some respondents to

click on


All Brands (VH1 example)Addressable Item: Some Links Too Small to Click on

*Study Goal: Understand how mobile sites compare to other sites – expectations and experiences

Frustration: Ease of interaction with the site was lower than respondents expected—potentially due to relatively smaller link sizes as compared to other sites


Example: BBC has distinguished popular links by size to make them easily clickable on touchscreens

Recommendation: Ensure most popular links are large enough for touchscreen clicking Audit the m.VH1.com site for overly small text links; then overlap those findings with links used most by mobile site visitors, allowing for a glimpse into popular links that are not functioning well

Level of interaction is

lower than expected—potentially

due to small link sizes


All Brands (MTV Example)Addressable Item: Some Links Too Small to Click on



Example: BBC has distinguished popular links by size to make them easily clickable on touchscreens

Frustration: 1/9 was unable to click on some of the smaller links on the site

Recommendation: Ensure most popular links are large enough for touchscreen clickingAudit the m.mtv.com site for overly small text links; then overlapping those findings with links that are used most by mobile site visitors, allowing for a glimpse into popular links that are not functioning well

Bottom navigational links are too small for

respondent to tap


All Brands (VH1 example) Addressable Item: Long Loading Times


Frustration: 6/10 experienced long load times—4 expected long load times while 2 were surprised Respondents were often concerned with data plan bandwidth, which caused them to consider ending the browsing session and leaving the siteRespondents also said they would not wait that long—instead trying to go to other known/trusted sites

Recommendation: Minimize load time speeds and performance issuesInvestigate performance issues and make updates in order to optimizeTest using all major device types and plans


All Brands (MTV example)Addressable Item: Little Context around Videos

Frustration: Respondents across all three VMN brands were hesitant to click on video links—one of the reasons being they did not know how long videos wereRespondents noted that additional context would impact their decision to watch the video (e.g. if it’s a 30-second clip they may try it, but if it’s a 10-minute clip they may shy away)

*Study Goal: Understand how mobile sites compare to other sites – expectations and experiences

Recommendation: Provide more contextual video information so that users are enticed to click on them Test an interstitial page with video information that users see before going directly to the video Test the inclusion of the length of a video clip

No information on how long the

video is


Comedy Central & MTV (MTV Example)Addressable Item: Content Not Easily Sharable

Frustration: 7/9 could not share content (articles or videos)Sharing a video was expected on the previous page, within the video, or on an intermediate pageSharing an article was expected at the top or bottom of the page—especially near “rate the article”*For more information, please see Slides 40 & 51: “Task Specific Findings: Share a Video” and “Task Specific Findings: Share a specific news item”


Best practices: YouTube

Example: Under each YouTube video, there are large “share” buttons—which once clicked, prompt users to select from Google Buzz, Twitter, Facebook and Email

Recommendation: Add or enhance the ability to shareTest a “landing page” for the video before it becomes full screen that includes video information (length, description, etc… like YouTube) and share optionsTest a share option once a video endsAdd share options at the top and bottom of articles—testing effectiveness of each placement

4/9 wanted to see an

interstitial page when

clicking on the video link

Participants wanted to

share articles but found no

clear way to do

Best practices: YouTube

Example: Under each YouTube video, there are large “share” buttons—which once clicked, prompt users to select from Google Buzz, Twitter, Facebook and Email


Frustration: 5/11 could not share a videoCurrent widget-enabled sharing functionality on the video page requires users to scroll to the bottom of the page and share the full video section


Recommendation: Add or enhance the ability to share a video Add sharing capabilities next to/near videos for the most common social media widgets (Facebook, Twitter) Test a “landing page” for the video before it becomes full screen, which includes video information (length, description, etc… like YouTube) and share options

Sharing functionality at

bottom of video page

Comedy Central & MTV (Comedy Central Example)Addressable Item: Video Content Not Easily Sharable


VH1 & Comedy Central (VH1 example)Addressable Item: Headers Not Hyperlinked


Frustration: 5/10 tried to click on the black and white headers of each section and expected those titles to link them to the contentAlthough frustrated, 4/5 respondents eventually completed the task through the prominent pink links at the bottom of each given content section

"I thought that black text bar was a tab, not

a label.“

Users anticipate that content headers, especially when

styled to look “touch” inviting, are clickable—expecting them to link to the content

section

Best practices: Link headers to the same page as the “more…” links for each section

Example: CNN includes linked headers and “more” content links on its home page as other section pages

Recommendation: Make content headers active linksActivate section headers on the homepage to link to the full section of each headerTest whether different styles of header designs promote an increase in clicks

Best practices: Link headers to the same page as the “more…” links for each section

Example: CNN includes linked headers and “more” content links on its home page as other section pages


VH1 & Comedy Central (Comedy Central example)Addressable Item: Headers not Hyperlinked

Frustration: 2/11 tried to click on the black and white headers of each section and expected those titles to link them to the contentAlthough frustrated, respondents eventually completed the task through the prominent pink links at the bottom of each given content section


Recommendation: Make content headers active linksActivate section headers on the homepage to link to the full section of each headerTest whether different styles of header designs promote an increase in clicks

Pink link effective, especially when in same field of view

Compared to other VMN mobile sites, this

navigational problem was not nearly as pronounced due to the color treatment of bright pink next/more

links

Pink link effective, especially when in same field of view

Users anticipate that content headers,

especially when styled to look “touch” inviting, are

clickable—expecting them to link to the content

section


Overview



Appendix


Frustration: 4/11 were unable to find a video in the video section As respondents could not find a video and found this section hard to navigate, they indicated they were not prone to view more videos *For more detailed information, please see Slides 34-37: “Task Specific Findings: Find video”


Recommendation: Streamline and organize video section to improve usability Test different categorizations of videos (e.g. by show, date, popularity, etc.)Decrease the number of times the user clicks “Next” by adding simplified filtering or “search” options in the video section

Comedy CentralAddressable Item: Video Section Hard to Navigate

Best practices: Ensure content is lean, but also navigable through sub-categories and/or by providing touchscreen-friendly scrolling

Example: YouTube categorizes their video content; once a category is picked it displays 10 videos per page vs. CC which has 5

YouTube: Videos are in categories

“There’s no way I’m

going to click

through 47 pages”

“Just looking at this this is difficult!”

Comedy CentralAddressable Item: Striking a Balance of Content

Best practices: CC show-specific pages

Example: Show-specific pages were easy for respondents to navigate—presenting targeted lists of categorized content


Frustration: 6/11 said pages had too much content—making the sections overwhelming—yet other times, thought site content was slim

“Too much content”: In the Jokepedia, Comedian Lists and Videos sections; respondents expressed there were too many lists or options to choose from“Too little content”: On home and section pages, big images with a small amount of content led respondents to note that content seemed light

*Study Goal: Understand how mobile sites compare to other platforms – expectations and experiences

Recommendation: Provide a better balance of content and number of navigational links Test ways to present lean yet informative content to entice but not overwhelm users in areas flagged in testing: Jokepedia, Comedians, VideosInform potential redesign using show-specific pages as a model as respondents favored these pages’ designs

Too Much Content: Jokes, Comedians &

Video Pages

Too Little Content: Home & Section

Pages

Show pages like Tosh.0 and The

Daily Show categorize and

prioritize popular content

Best practice: Ensure content is lean, but also navigable through sub-categories and/or by providing touchscreen-friendly scrolling

Example: YouTube categorizes its video content; once a category is picked it displays 10 videos per page vs. CC which has 5


Comedy Central Addressable Item: Too Many Clicks to Reach Content

Frustration: 4/11 were frustrated when they had to use ‘next’ buttons to view more pages3 preferred having a longer list and scrolling down; and another, more bandwidth-sensitive, preferred search or better indexed content


“I have to click ‘Next Joke’ after voting? Shouldn’t it just

take me to the next joke?”

Recommendation: Reduce number of instances users need to use a ‘next page’ button Test a longer, scrollable list of options instead of limiting results to a one page-viewAdd search functionality to give users a more direct way of accessing desired contentMove users forward after they answer in jokes/games sections to encourage interaction

“I’m not going to keep hitting

‘next’ 47 times!”

YouTube: Videos are

in categories


Overview



Appendix


MTV & VH1 (MTV Example)Addressable Item: Interest in More Music Content

Frustration: 3/9 commented that they expected to see more music specific information and news on m.mtv.com.


Recommendation: Provide more music-related content to the site Test the addition of more music content throughout various parts of the siteAssess whether highlighting the more “music driven” parts of the brand (mtv2, etc) would help satisfy users appetite for music content

“Concentrate on more music”


MTV & VH1 (VH1 Example)Addressable Item: Interest in More Music Content


Frustration: New visitors expressed that there should be more information about music

Recommendation: Provide more music-related content to the site Investigate whether more music content would attract new users to VH1’s mobile WebsiteConsider increased tie-in of music news information, by improving integration of MTV News’ site to VH1’s mobile site

“The range of artists doesn't speak to my

interests, chances are slim that I'd use VH1 for music news."


MTV & VH1 (MTV Example)Addressable Item: Song & Album Title Redundancy

Frustration: 2/4 could not find song titles due to redundant listings of songs and albumsParticipants expected the album names to be mutually exclusive and not repetitive


Recommendation: Reduce redundancy within Artist songs and albums Customize links for popular artists to ensure that there is not duplication Investigate whether this will impact iTunes integration, at which point users could be presented with the actual variety of options for each album/song

The same album is listed multiple

times for the same artist


MTV & VH1 (VH1 Example) Addressable Item: Music Organization & Duplicate Links


Frustration: 2/3 could not find song titles citing difficult navigation and confusing duplication of links to songs/albums2/3 were also confused by the organization by album and resulting iTunes location

Recommendation: Improve navigation of artists’ songs/albums and reduce redundancy

Improve navigation of artists’ content, either by manually editing or improving integration with iTunes / vendor partner(s)

Customize links for popular artists to ensure that there is not duplication

Investigate whether this will impact iTunes integration, at which point users could be presented with the actual variety of options for each album/song

Participants expected the

song names to be mutually

exclusive and not repetitive


Overview



Appendix

Best practices: Anticipate how the users will look for different types of content and order appropriately

Example: MLB has segmented lists and orders their list of teams by league, division and then alphabetical order


MTV Addressable Item: Lists Lack Logical Order

Frustration: 8/9 expected lists of content to be ordered—either alphabetically or chronologically depending on the type of contentRespondents generally thought that things being “out of order” made the site feel “inconsistent”


Recommendation: Improve site organization by ordering lists of content Test organizations for each type of content list (artists, shows, videos etc)—such as by top content, chronological sequence or alphabetically

Respondents expect videos/episodes to be in chronological

order

Respondents expected the

Artist page to be in order

(e.g. alphabetized)

Ordered by League,

Division then alphabeticall

y


MTV Addressable Item: Too Many Pages / Non-Linked TV Schedule

Frustration: Respondents did not want to click through multiple pages to get to the desired timeframe/show and expected show titles to link3/9 mentioned that unless a show was on the first page of the TV Schedule, they would not click through to find more information Respondents also expected to be able to link from the TV Schedule to the show page


Respondents would not scroll through to find

the “next” airing of a show

Recommendation: Streamline the TV Schedule and link shows Consider cross-linking TV Schedule to the individual show pagesDecrease the number of pages in the Schedule to encourage users to continue to seek their desired show times


MTV Addressable Item: Shows’ Air Times Limited to New Episodes

Frustration: 3/9 noted that they wanted to see show times for both new shows and rerunsRespondents also added that including the actual date in addition to the day would be helpful


Recommendation: Make information about the show’s next air time more comprehensive Test adding rerun information to the show pageStandardize how the next show air time is presented, with both date and day, on the show pageUsers wanted to

see the date/time of the

next show (including reruns)


MTV Addressable Item: Video Section Hard to Navigate


Respondents that gave up noted that there would be 55

subsequent pages to scroll through

Frustration: 3/9 were unable to find a video within the video section These respondents expressed that they were overwhelmed by all the results and number of pages that they would need to sort through *For more detailed information, please see Slide 38-39: “Task Specific Findings: Find video”

Recommendation: Streamline and organize the video section to improve usability

Test different categorizations of videos (e.g. by show, date, popularity, etc.)Decrease the amount of times the user has to click “Next” by adding simplified filtering or “search” options within the video section

Best practices: Ensure content is lean, but also navigable through sub-categories and/or by providing touchscreen-friendly scrolling

Example: YouTube categorizes their video content; once a category is picked it displays 10 videos per page vs. MTV which has 5

YouTube: Videos are in categories


MTV Addressable Item: Interactive Voting Works

Finding: 6/9 enjoyed the interactive Video Music Awards voting3/9 saw the VMA voting option during their exploration phase and were immediately attracted to it—however, respondents noted that none of the content was linked 8/9 were able to complete the “VMA Voting” task and enjoyed this feature

“What I don't like is there are no links

(e.g. to videos)”

Recommendation: Continue to add interactive elements that allow users to voice their opinions and engage with the site Encourage lateral traffic through the site by linking—such as links to the nominated videos with VMA VotingProvide ongoing opportunities for users to engage with MTV contentCross-link from interactive elements to increase browsing and page views on the site



Overview



Appendix


VH1 Addressable Item: Variable Sizes & Layout Unorganized


Frustration: 3/10 thought the content on the site looked unorganized and/or jumbled3/10 said that the discrepancy between the size of photos was unappealing—and it confused another 2

Recommendation: Address site layout and ensure video, image, and text space is uniform—appearing neat and organized

Provide a comfortable ratio of image size—one in which the images relate to each other, but image priority is still clearTest applying the same dimensions across images of different sizes

Best practices: BBC

Example: BBC creates symmetry between image sizes so the user still knows which story is a priority, but is not distracted from other content

Difference in photo size confusing

“This is really unorganized, there’s just this whole

jumble of stuff popping up”


VH1Addressable Item: Show Descriptions Too Long


Frustration: 3/10 thought show descriptions were too long These respondents indicated the text was too thick/long to read on a mobile device 2 specifically called out how they liked Wikipedia’s organization—especially the current season’s cast breakdown in table format

Recommendation: Shorten show descriptionsResearch types of information users respond to most about a show and include only most relevant informationReduce long blocks of text throughout the site to minimize clutter and improve comprehension

Best practices: Wikipedia

Example: Wikipedia provides short and relevant information about shows in an easy to read table

source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celebrity_Rehab

“Look, we just did all that (learn about Celeb

Rehab on Wikipedia) in

like 2 seconds!”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celebrity_Rehab


VH1 Addressable Item: Games/Trivia Sections Fall Short


Frustration: 4/9 were interested in games, trivia and voting, but 3/9 thought using them was too cumbersome*For more examples, please see Appendix Slide 49-50: “Frustrations Encountered: Games/Trivia”

Recommendation: Revamp games and trivia content to be more player-friendly Adopt best practices in trivia, personality, slider, and other styles of games offered on VH1

Best practices: Users enjoy interactivity, but expect it to be easy

Meet and exceed user expectations by guiding them through the activity (i.e. automatically take them to the next screen)

Provide and close the feedback loop for users by giving them a summary of their quiz answers

Engage users further by letting them know how they did vs. other quiz takers (i.e. “You did better than 70% of the quiz takers! Good job!”)

2/9 had issues with the

choices being too close together

2/9 did not like that they had to

click “Next Question”


VH1 Addressable Item: Interactive Opportunities Appealing


Finding: 3/10 said the concept of voting was appealing These respondents said they wanted to vote for upcoming awards and were craving user comments on VH1 shows

Recommendation: Encourage visitors to participate in news generation by voting in polls and/or providing feedback to other users

Ensure seamless participation in chances to vote/provide feedbackConsider the cost/benefit of a community to discuss VH1-specific showsEncourage users

to interact, but ensure it’s

seamless and easy to do

Lis Hubert, [email protected] Strand, [email protected] Naviscent, LLCwww.naviscent.com

Naviscent Confidential – Do not copy; do not distribute.

Copyright © 2011 Naviscent LLC. All Rights Reserved Worldwide.

Our goal today is to provide an overview of our findings and recommendations. Additional detail, by brand, will be made available to participants; don’t hesitate to reach out to us if you need such detail.

m.ComedyCentral.com, m.MTV.com, m.VH1.com

Mobile Site User Testing

http://www.naviscent.com/

lis hubert & lisa strand naviscent, llc naviscent confidential – do not copy; do not...

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