BET+ - Ad Supported Tier

 

The Problem

Over early 2023, more and more streaming services began to offer an ad-supported membership for users to subscribe to. To stay competitive and provide our users with a more affordable subscription option, BET+ decided to introduce an ad-supported tier as well. We had to re-strategize our onboarding flow and update plan flow to include this new plan tier.

Our Goals

For such a large initiative, we had a quickened timeline in order to have the ad-tier available to be announced during the BET Awards in June 2023. Meeting that delivery timeline being the primary goal, we needed to update or onboarding flow for new users as well as the 'Update Plan' flow for current users to display this new tier. Also, while we were adding this more affordable tier, we still wanted to attract users to the premium subscription option.

 

Discovery

Acceptance Criteria

Because of the tight turnaround needed for this initiative, we relied heavily on the acceptance criteria provided by our project management and business teams. We moved forward with the following requirements:

  • Showcase plan options in a scannable format

  • Have a pre-selected newsletter opt-in for new users

  • Update onboarding flow to include fields for gender selection and birthdate entry.

  • For current users, update the ‘Update' Plan’ flow with new tier option.

We also had the opportunity to meet with designers from our sister brand, Paramount+, who already offered an ad-supported tier option. We were lucky the Paramount+ team shared their insights with us: that pricing is the most important information to users and to provide context for what users should expect to create a profile.

 

Competitive Analysis

I also conducted a competitive analysis of our peers. I created new profiles with other streaming services to take note of their onboarding flow as well as how to update my plan as an existing user. I reviewed the following platforms:

 
 

Consistencies:

  • Many peers displayed their plans in multi-column layouts that included pricing and value props.

  • Users could toggle to view different plan types or packages (ex: Premium vs Annual, Bundles vs Single Plans, Monthly vs Annual, etc)

  • Designs highlighted savings or special pricing.

  • Users were asked to create an account then enter payment.

  • User’s current plan was clearly labeled in “Upgrade Plan” flows.

Outliers:

  • Netflix showed their plan options in a table view instead of columns.

  • Hulu and Disney+ laid out their payment screen as an itemized receipt in one column.

 

Exploration

As I moved into exploration, an early mockup included a similar onboarding flow to Paramount+, with the onboarding screens separated by a toggle. But after having design review calls with internal teams, we determined the level of effort to implement an entirely new design would be too high for the timeline. We needed to work within the current layout as much as possible.

 

Refocusing on the current layout, we made smaller UI updates to optimize the buttons, added a tag to promote specific plans, and opted to have all of our plans listed on one screen instead of the toggle to ensure users did not miss any options.

 

Refinement & Delivery

During the refinement process, there was extensive copy editing with the legal team to update all of the jargon on the Plan Selection page. I also had to consider the different layout options depending on the platform type users were using. Enabling profile creation on CTV was a special consideration and I worked in tandem with developers to ensure implementation matched the development team's capacities. Once designs were agreed upon, I mocked up the different states and specs for all of our different platform types.

 

Explore another case study: BET+ - Kid’s Profiles