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App podcast player
Creating a native app Podcast Player
Context
ITV News has a substantial selection of Podcasts on offer, both available on their app and on their browser site.
Problem
The Podcast player existed only in browser, so users who were on the app and wanted to listen to a podcast would be redirected out of the app to the browser site. Alongside this, the browser podcast player was glitchy and would often lock into place, not allowing the user to scroll through different episodes, or carry on working if the user chose to leave the podcast page and view other news articles.
Pre Existing Browser Component
Glitchy interface, difficult for the user to seamlessly move through the episode without thumbnail scrubbing.
Process
User Research
In order to gauge user opinion, I was able to obtain customer complaint comments regarding the app
"It's incredibly frustrating when I try to skip further into the episode, and the player freezes, and the only way to unfreeze it is to press backwards, which then kicks me out of the episode and I have to start all over again from the beginning."
"Why bother having a podcast player at all, if it stops working when I navigate away and carry on browsing the site? Surely it should continue to play and I should be able to read news articles or do other stuff on my phone at the same time as listening to a podcast?!"
"I think the podcast player has a bug, because it's really glitchy and often freezes if I try to do anything else on my phone screen other than not touch anything and listen to the podcast. It either freezes or kicks me out of it"
Competitor Analysis
Audible
Castbox
Podcast Player
Spotify
Wondery
The competitor analysis highlighted several key features that the ITV browser podcast player was missing:
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Pagination
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Matching microskip forward/backwards controls
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A mini player
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A sticky player
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Thumbnail scrubber
Objectives & Goals
Solution
Results
App podcast engagement
37%
Monthly listenership
1.6m
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