Amazon refreshes Prime Video design with icon-based navigation and a dedicated sports tab – TechCrunch

Amazon is rolling out a new Prime Video interface for streaming devices, smart TVs, and Android devices, removing text-based tabs at the top for icon-based navigation on the side along with a fitness tab. on the homepage to live stream and pre-record content in the catalog. The new redesign includes a larger carousel for Amazon Originals with adult ratings and the top ten for regional titles.

The updated home screen now has a new navigation menu on the side with Find, Home, Shop icons to buy or rent titles or subscribe to channels, Live TV to view content from posted channels your subscription, Free with Ads for Amazon’s FreeVee service, and My Content for watchlists and purchases.

Image credits: Amazon

Prime Video navigation menu changes similar to New Fire TV interface – used icons instead of text for tabs – Amazon launched last month. Amazon Prime Video’s redesign is launching to customers globally this week using the app on TV streaming devices including Fire TV and its Android app with web interface updates and iOS.

“We’re redesigning the Prime Video experience to highlight our wide selection of content and make it easier for customers to find the content they love,” the company said in a pre-written statement.

Amazon now includes four new sub-navigation options in a new, larger banner carousel on the home screen called All, Movies, TV Shows, and Sports to make it easier to find content in those categories. It’s surprising that Amazon has waited so long to have those basic navigation tabs on the big screen. Prior to this update, it was difficult to scroll through movies or TV shows. The homepage also shows larger carousels with trailers for Prime Originals, the top 10 leaderboards for the region, and a carousel to easily find your current subscriptions.

Image credits: Amazon

The new search menu now shows title suggestions as you type, and you can also filter out suggestions by category, genre, or titles available in 4K. These search filters are already available on the web and on mobile apps, but now they’re rolling out to the big screen.

The Sports tab is a brand new addition to Prime Video that will help you find live sports, replays and highlights of recently finished matches and documentaries. There is a carousel to navigate to the different leagues available in your area. While Amazon has a sizable catalog of sports documentaries — including the All or Nothing series — there are no easy filters or buttons to find related content. You have to search for these titles yourself or pray that one of them shows up in the suggestions.

Amazon has also refreshed the Live TV tab design with a channel guide interface available by default so you can jump to what your subscribed channels are showing right now. Currently, the live TV interface is not common across platforms, and you have to take a few steps to find the show you want to watch. What’s more, the Live TV screen features upcoming live sports from Amazon Prime and subscriptions to your channel.

Image credits: Amazon

The company emphasizes that with this update, it is clearly marking paid and free titles. It denotes the titles that come with the Premium Membership with a blue check mark and the titles you need to pay with the gold shopping bag.

While the new Amazon Prime design update is mostly visual, a tab dedicated to sports suggests the company is taking the category more seriously. Acquisition company exclusive streaming rights to show NFL Thursday Night Football game last year and will start showing those matches this year. The e-commerce giant is aiming to win the rights to show UEFA Champions League football in both America. and England. It also aimed to acquire the five-year streaming rights to India’s Premier League cricket tournament last month, but withdrew. days before the auction starts.

Amazon mentioned that the interface revamp is geared towards larger screens because it represents the majority of viewers using that streaming method. However, it did not mention any details about what percentage of users view content on big screens and small screens globally.

The company’s approach doesn’t come as a surprise given that people are spending more time streaming content on big screens like connected TVs, smart TVs or game consoles. A report published by online data analytics company Conviva in May for Q1 2022 shows that big screens represent 77% of minutes are streamed globally in that period of time.

“In mature markets like the US and Europe, viewers are upgrading from small devices to Smart TVs, creating the foundation for streaming,” said Keith Zubchevich, President and CEO of Conviva. to pass linear TV on the big screen.