Sky revamps homepage to boost TV streaming
David Farnor | On 20, Jul 2016
Sky has revamped the homepage for Sky+ to help customers discover more TV to watch.
Sky has recently launched its new premium set top box, Sky Q, and will shortly be introducing 4K TV for its top-level customers, but the broadcaster has not left behind its standard Sky+ users.
Sky+ has had several major updates in the last year, including the introduction of Watch Next and Download All features, as well as a new homepage layout. Since that homepage was introduced, on-demand viewing has more than doubled. Now, Sky is building upon that with the addition of Top Picks to the Sky+ Homepage, which gives millions of customers’ recommendations on the best new TV from entertainment channels such as Sky Atlantic and FOX. Depending on customers’ subscriptions, picks will also include box sets, such as Sex and the City, sporting highlights, kids’ favourites and the latest movies.
Along with the newly designed Homepage, Sky is also introducing “Download Next,” which will automatically start to download the next episode of a programme when customers start watching a TV series. A new “Continue Watching” tab in the Planner will also let customers easily pick up where they last left off in an episode or series.
The updates arrive after a record month for box set bingeing on Sky: downloads hit nearly 60 million in May 2016, as customers settled into epic dramas including Game of Thrones and Billions.
Luke Bradley-Jones, Director of TV and content products, comments: “We know that customers are watching even more TV, and with every update to Sky+ we’re making it even better.”
Other changes being introduced as part of the update are a newly designed Services Homepage to help customers to customise the Sky Guide, a viewing progress bar that will appear across recordings in the Planner, highlighting how much of a programme has been watched, and the repositioning of Search at the top of the Homepage, where customers can search for any of their favourite shows.