BBC iPlayer is the BBC's streaming service, used by 12 million accounts a week. I led a data-driven redesign of how its categories are ordered, across TV, web, iOS and Android.

When specialist category owners pushed back, I used their own audience data to show their viewers would follow, and A/B testing proved it.

COMPANY
BBC, the world's largest public service broadcaster

MY ROLE
Lead UX Designer

GOAL
Increase reach to high value categories

TOOLS
Figma, Proto.io, Principle, Origami, Zeplin

13%
more visits to high-value categories

12M
weekly signed-in accounts

4
platforms: TV, web, iOS and Android

Problem

Usage data showed iPlayer's most valuable categories, Films, Sport and News, were being missed. In the current menu, they were hidden or took many clicks to reach. The goal was to find an order that sent more viewers to those categories, on every platform.

Process

Understanding the data. I analysed how each category was used across web, mobile and TV, to see which were popular, which were underused, and how behaviour differed by platform.

Data showing number of visits to iPlayer categories

Data showing the popularity of categories across web, mobile and TV

Information architecture. I designed several ways of grouping and ordering categories, each built on a different principle. Before comparing them, I set out how we'd judge each one against the project goals. That made narrowing down the options to test fast and fair.

Existing solution

Proposed solution

Prototyping and testing. I built prototypes in Principle to check the new order on mobile, web and TV. With a design researcher, I ran remote task-based tests, asking people to find content with the category menu and recording successes, failures and time taken.

Principle prototype of proposed web solution

Principle prototype of mobile solution

User testing results

The tough call. The new order moved some specialist categories, such as Audio Described, further down the menu. Their owners pushed back, fearing a drop in users.

Consumption data showed their audiences were small but frequent and regular, so I argued loyal viewers would learn where their content now lived.

Leadership wanted to go ahead straight away to move faster. I pushed for an A/B test first, to protect viewing and reassure the category owners. The test showed the results we wanted, so we agreed to make the change.

Solution

We shipped a new category order on TV, web, iOS and Android:

Built on behaviour: the order reflected how people actually browsed, not how the BBC was organised internally.
High-value categories first: Films, Sport and News moved up the menu, so they took fewer clicks to reach.
Specialist categories kept their audience: they moved down, and their loyal viewers followed.

The new category navigation on iPlayer TV

Results

13% more visits to the high-value categories (Films, Sport and News) in the A/B test
No significant drop in viewing for specialist categories, confirmed by A/B testing
Shipped on four platforms for iPlayer's 12 million weekly signed-in accounts

Credits

UX
Tom Killeen

Product
Graham Hoyle

Engineering
Sam Bason