Reinventing the TG4 Player

for TG4

DESIGN SPRINT

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We were delighted to deliver a Design Sprint for TG4, the public service broadcaster for the Irish language. The TG4 online player was the focus for the sprint following some preliminary interviews. The player is available to watch live and previously broadcast programmes from around the world. After the Sprint numerous steps were taken to implement the solutions uncovered by the Sprint process.

Multi-disciplinary sprint team

The team at TG4 comprised of the product manager, marketing, development and design. The product manager acted as the decision maker during the sprint. The team members that Red Lemonade brought were a designer, sitting in as part of the TG4 team, and of course the facilitator.

The goal of the sprint

The long-term goal for the TG4 Player is to be recognised as the go-to hub of Irish and cultural content worldwide. The questions for the sprint focused on how to get users interested in new content and organise the enormous quantity of existing material intuitively.

The mapping exercise presented the customer journey for the player in four parts, from initial discovery, learning, using and goal of watching relevant content. Sprint questions voted on from earlier in the day were then placed on the map based on where they fitted in the journey. It became evident that the challenge was based on learning and using the player, which would be the focus for creating solutions.

User testing

On Thursday, the final day of the sprint we tested the prototype with five users. Quickly patterns emerged as to what the users liked and did not like. Curating content into categories and featured lists was successful. Quirky titles and copy with a fresh personality reframed the content in people’s minds. Having lots of video content upfront was not a problem and welcomed by the testers.

The testers gave us insights into their perception of the product and brand that were helpful. All of the feedback was captured and organised on stickies and ordered on a board to give an overall picture of where the positives and negatives lie.

After the testing was completed, we produced a summary report based on the user feedback and also product strategy insights going forward with the product.

Results and outcomes

We decided in the Sprint that the player would have to become the front and centre purpose of the website, and steps were taken to implement this. A user arriving at TG4.ie is now greeted by the player and immediately starts seeing content they might want to watch. Categories are used to segment programmes and deliver shows in a digestible way. Previously, every programme was listed in order and choice was difficult.

In terms of how we approach projects in all areas of the organisation, the methodology of the design sprint was really positive, creating a shared sense of ownership around the project, surfacing ideas from everybody on the team and focusing those ideas towards delivering on the goals.

Lís Ní Dhálaigh, Director of Marketing and Development, TG4