With user experience such a hot topic in the streaming industry, platforms frequently update their user interfaces. Now Amazon’s Prime Video app is undergoing a major overhaul.
Beginning this week, Amazon will roll out the redesigned Prime Video platform on Android and connected TV apps like Fire TV, with iOS and desktop support coming later this summer.
The first change Amazon unveiled is a simplified navigation menu, which has been relocated to the left side of the screen. The menu consists of six primary pages: Home, Store, Find, Live TV, Free with Ads and My Stuff.
Prime users will also have sub-navigation options, whether they want to browse the movie or TV show categories. The updated Find Page will display live search suggestions, and results can be filtered by genre or 4K UHD.
The Home page features a Sports sub-navigation menu, placing Prime’s live and programmed sports content in one location. The Sports menu will likely have an option to access Thursday Night Football, once the first match of the 2022-23 season airs on September 15.
Further enhancing Prime’s user experience are updated carousels, with some titles boasting what Amazon’s calling a “Super Carousel” – with larger, poster-style artwork. The Prime app’s revamped home page shows a Top 10 Chart, much like the one on Netflix.
Viewers will also better differentiate between content included with Prime and content available for purchase, as Amazon will flag titles with a blue checkmark or a shopping bag icon, respectively.
The Prime Video redesign comes about a month after Amazon updated the UI for Fire TVs. According to the New York Times, the redesign was 18 months in the making.
“It’s important for us that customers understand the breadth of choice that they have and understand the benefit of using the Prime Video application for all of their streaming,” Helena Cerna, an Amazon director of product management, told the outlet.
Amazon’s app revamp might serve to attract new users. Recent reports suggest Amazon may have another distribution agreement in the works with HBO Max, after the latter service was removed from Prime Video Channels last summer.
Moreover, the company snagged a three-year streaming deal for the Union of European Football Association (UEFA), meaning Prime members in the U.K. will have access to an enhanced viewing experience through the redesigned app.
In other customer experience updates, Amazon earlier this month unveiled a Grubhub+ promotional offering for Prime customers, ahead of Prime Day.