Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) is in the process of rolling out an entirely new, more modernized look to most of its devices. CNET‘s Joan E. Solsman reports that the company’s appearance is now consistent across smart TVs, the PlayStation, the Roku box, Xbox and almost all television formats—except Apple TV and the Xbox One.
Netflix overhauls its appearance
It has taken the company two years to change its look, according to executives. Product Innovation Vice President Chris Jaffe told CNET that the new appearance is designed to make users think Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) has a greater amount of even better content. He also said that subscribers are watching more with the new look. They already know that because they rolled out the new experience to a small amount of users back in April. According to Jaffe, users who had the new Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) look were watching more than those who didn’t because they said the service was easier to use and also looked cleaner.
There is a new user interface which was designed especially for the large screen. It has more images and provides descriptions which are more detailed as well as personalized information about why Netflix is suggesting a show or movie to a particular user. This is the first time Netflix is rolling out the new experience at the same time across all devices which play its service on a television screen. These devices made up most of all the viewing hours logged by Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX).
Other changes at Netflix
The company has also made some changes to the coding which operates behind the scenes of the television service. Each one of the many devices offering Netflix had its own app, so it took longer for the company to roll out new features. Apparently Netflix Kids still isn’t available to uses of the Roku box because of this problem. Having a separate app for each device also used up more resources because coders would have to create the same thing several times instead of just once.
The only place users will not see the same Netflix experience is on Apple TV and on the new Xbox One. It’s because Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) places major restrictions on developers in terms of its user interface. The Xbox One has similar restrictions in place.
Users of all other devices will see the new Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) appearance sometime over the next few months. The PlayStation 3 and 4, the Xbox 360, the Roku 3, and newer smart televisions and Blu-ray players will see the updated look within the next two weeks. Older devices like earlier Roku boxes will see the changes a in a couple of months. New TiVo boxes won’t see the updated look until early next year.
