Planit
Put simply, PLANIT creates a package of entertainment for the entire evening, based on the viewing profile of an individual user…or even the whole family.
PLANIT creates a viewing schedule by combining live TV, video on demand and recorded content. This is presented by a stylish and intuitive interface that guides the viewer through their recommended content in the form of strong imagery and HD trailers.
Viewers can also use the PLANIT smart phone app in conjunction with the TV application to update their profile information, and check out the latest trailers whilst on the move. Any household can have a number of smart phones or connected devices that can be synced with the TV to update the schedule.
Approach
The original concept was created in house by Pushbutton’s creative team. James Cumberbatch, Pushbutton’s Director of Development, headed up the project.
“Once the concept was shortlisted the design and development team worked very closely on creating the core UI that presents content to the user. A key feature of the UI is the fact that the Z-axis is used to represent a historical breadcrumb trail. This helps the user visualise the size of the application and keeps things simple from a user’s perception of the product.”
After spending some time with the team at Deutsche Telekom, Pushbutton refined the concept through a number of rapid iterations.
“Our goal was to create a TV experience that was much more enjoyable for the user. In the new world of IPTV it is becoming more important to push personalised content channels at consumers. If you combine live TV, VOD and PVR the amount of content that a user can access is huge. If you then add over the top content, the choices are just too vast to navigate using lists or traditional EPGs. Our aim for PLANIT was to simplify the process of selecting content and reduce the reliance on linear TV. As a result we would hope that by using an interface such as PLANIT an operator would be able to drive more subscriptions for premium content and VOD purchases.”
Truly Non-linear
Doing away with the traditional notion of programmes being watched at scheduled time slots, PLANIT’s viewing schedule is presented to the user in the form of Now, Next and Later. The user can either sit back and watch the suggested schedule or re-configure the schedule at any time. PLANIT stays in charge of reorganising scheduled programming to show when the user wants to watch it, and coordinates the automatic recording and rearranging of content to let the user watch TV in a way that is completely free of the restrictions of the traditional EPG.
“One thing that we were keen to avoid was the problem of PLANIT being seen as a recommendation engine. What we’ve tried to create is an interface that can unlock the real power in any recommendation engine, by building a completely new way to interact with it. User profiles can be setup for each member of the household and the accuracy of their profiles easily enhanced by using training mode. With the training mode we decided to take another completely fresh approach, with an interface that feels more like an interactive quiz than a complicated settings screen.
“The project was a great team effort and I’m really proud of the end result. Microsoft Mediaroom is a powerful platform to develop applications for. In the future TV will still need to be funded through advertising or subscription, so we feel its vital to work on platforms that allow us to create rich user experiences, whilst providing strong access to back end systems for billing and reporting.”
