MARKET RESEARCH

As of 2024, Roku is the largest streaming device in the USA. According 
to recent market research, Roku leads the streaming device market with approximately 51% market share in the United States. Roku's dominance comes from both its physical streaming devices and its smart TV platform, which is built into many television models.

The closest competitor is Amazon Fire TV which holds around 30-32% of the market share. Other notable streaming devices include Apple TV (around 10% market share) and Google Chromecast (around 7-8% market share).

HEURISTIC EVALUATION

Strengths: The Roku mobile app offers a user-friendly interface that's easy to navigate, with its user interface design following an underlying grid for consistency. Strong branding and use of signature colors create a distinctive visual identity throughout the experience. It provides access to thousands of streaming channels and services, while content is well organized for easy navigation between different categories. The included digital remote enhances control options, complemented by a voice search function for convenient content discovery. A "private listening" feature allows for discreet viewing through headphones connected to your phone, and fast text entry through the keyboard feature makes searching and entering credentials with long character counts much more efficient.

Weaknesses: Navigation menus can feel crowded with possible scenarios of information overload when exploring the app. The visual aesthetics felt dated according to user feedback. No native social or second-screen features exist; users must use separate apps to socially engage. The cluttered ad-supported interface means ads can feel intrusive compared to competitors. Buttons may be difficult to select due to small touch targets on the digital remote, especially for users with larger fingers.

COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS | APPLE TV

Strengths

• Offers seamless integration with the broader Apple ecosystem, connecting iPhones, iPads, and Macs through a clean, user-friendly interface that provides an ad-free viewing experience for purchased content.

• It supports premium viewing technologies including 4K HDR, Dolby Vision, and Dolby Atmos, while giving users access to Apple TV+ original content and enabling family sharing capabilities across devices.

• The platform delivers personalized recommendations and allows users to purchase or rent movies and shows in one convenient location, with offline downloads available for purchased content and no subscription required for basic app functionality.

Weaknesses

• Despite these advantages, Apple TV has several notable drawbacks, including the requirement of an Apple TV+ subscription to access original content and higher rental and purchase prices compared to competitors.

• The platform offers limited free content options and isn't available on all non-Apple platforms, while its content library remains smaller than major competitors like Netflix.

• Users must manage separate subscription costs for additional channels, and the search functionality sometimes lacks precision.

• The inconsistent integration with some third-party streaming services can be frustrating, the TV app organization may confuse new users, and certain features require the latest hardware or software versions to function properly.

COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS | AMAZON FIRE TV

Strengths

• Offers a compelling streaming experience with its seamless integration into the Amazon ecosystem, providing users with immediate access to Prime Video, Prime Music, and other Amazon services.

• Its user-friendly interface enables easy navigation, complemented by convenient voice control capabilities through Alexa that eliminate tedious manual searching. The platform boasts an extensive content library with thousands of apps and channels, while regular updates ensure improved features and performance over time.

• Personalization is a key strength, with the system offering tailored recommendations based on viewing habits and convenient cross-device syncing that allows users to continue watching content from where they left off on other devices.

• Budget-conscious consumers appreciate the free content options through services like IMDb TV, while the ability to mirror or cast from compatible devices adds flexibility.

• Additional conveniences include fast text entry via keyboard and smart home integration capabilities, with the mobile app providing an alternative to the physical remote.

Weaknesses

• Despite these advantages, Amazon Fire TV does have notable weaknesses. The platform tends to prioritize Amazon content over other streaming services, potentially limiting discovery of non-Amazon options.

• Users may find the ads and sponsored content on the home screen intrusive, detracting from the viewing experience. Performance issues and buffering can occasionally disrupt streaming, while some apps lack optimization specifically for Fire TV.

• Gamers may be disappointed by limited gaming capabilities compared to dedicated systems.

• A stable internet connection is essential for optimal performance, and additional subscriptions are required for certain premium content.

• The search functionality sometimes struggles to find content across different apps, and the user interface can become cluttered when too many apps are installed, making navigation more challenging.

AFFINITY MAPPING

After all video sessions were recorded and transcribed, multiple insights were pulled from each interview. Their responses were then placed into an affinity map to determine key underlying themes and categories that were important to the target users. The following four “I statements” were identified as key user habits.

IDEATION

I refined the Roku app while preserving its essential identity as the market-leading streaming platform. My process began with careful tracing of the existing screens to create low-fidelity wireframes, making only minor spacing and padding adjustments while maintaining the core structure.

The high-fidelity wireframes showcase a significant visual transformation. I shifted from the dark purple background to a clean, minimalist white interface where purple now serves exclusively as an accent color for interactive elements like icons, buttons, and watchlist content. Additionally, I introduced a new group chat feature in the navigation bar, replacing the previous "devices" section.

When "Spoiler Alert" mode is active, all group member messages are automatically blurred. Notifications are silenced while this mode is on. You can reveal messages by tapping them individually or by turning off "Spoiler Alert" mode, which will show all previously hidden messages in the thread.