Problem Statement
Sky Glass's closed captioning faces challenges balancing user customisation with regional regulations (OFCOM, 2024). Users find limited customisation options and intrusive design hinder their viewing experience. The proposed solution aims to address this by enhancing customisation and offering innovative features for diverse users (Tran, 2023).
Business Value & Strategy Alignment
Our feature for Sky Glass's closed caption (CC) aligns with Sky's strategic goals of accessibility, inclusivity and innovation. It supports Sky's mission by making content more accessible to diverse users, including non-native speakers and other users with language or comprehensive needs. By enhancing customer satisfaction and strengthening brand reputation, our feature will provide substantial business value, attract a global audience, increase engagement, reduce churn (SCOPE, 2024)whilst solidifying Sky Glass’s leadership in the entertainment sector.
Product Feature Goals and Organisational Strategy Alignment
The “Lookup and Translate” feature supports Sky's overarching theme of adaptable media and will contribute to Sky's mission by serving non-native language speakers, users who are hearing impaired or have learning difficulties. This directly supports Sky's goal of improving accessibility.
NorthStar, KPIs & Metrics
Key success criteria include: NSM: Percentage of Sky Glass Customers Rating Accessibility as Excellent or Very Good (85%). OKR: Delivering the best product experience with closed captioning for a worldwide audience on Sky Glass. Focus: 10% Lookup and Translate Feature Usage Rate Level 1: Increased retention rate Level 1: Average 2 Lookups per User Session for target group Level 1: 85% User Satisfaction with Lookups/Translations Level 2: 15% Feature Adoption Rate among New Users Other OKR: Achieve a SCOPE rating above 7 in 12 months (SCOPE, 2024) These tie into Sky’s goals of: Enhanced user experience Attract a global audience Accessibility leadership.
Market Landscape
Unlike SKY, many streaming services offer closed captioning with customisation options through their propriety software or Android and some with multiple languages. Some platforms like Lingopie, focus on language learning with built-in translation features and have Netflix extensions. Third-party extensions offer similar functions, allowing one look at dictionary definitions and translation but mostly work only on laptops or chrome and may be removed from chrome store at any time (Appendix.A.3.5). Sky can maintain its competitive edge by offering basic customisation options and addressing existing user concerns related to its CC feature, and the unique "Lookup and Translate" feature will provide a distinct advantage. Upcoming OFCOM regulation, which will soon extend to streaming services means Sky Glass and other providers must ensure accurate, timely, and synchronised closed captioning to comply with UK Equality Act, FCC regulations and OFCOM guidelines. (Appendix.A.2.6) Unique Selling Point Real-Time learning using “Lookup and translate” Customisable language experience. Bookmarking for easy access Available on TV, reaching a broader audience (Statista, 2024). User Analysis (Appendix.A.3.2) The demand for captions and subtitles is fuelled by accessibility needs, enhanced comprehension, and legal compliance (VITAC, 2024). Focusing on comprehension, subtitles can aid in understanding for sign language users, people with learning difficulties and non-native speakers (Andresen, 2023; Sign Solutions, 2023). While the rise in subtitle use may be influenced by the growing popularity of foreign language content (Multilingual, 2022), linking spoken word to subtitles is important for language learning and comprehension (Pannatier & Bétrancourt, 2024). Without addressing language needs, users can experience a situational disability and Linguistic exclusion (Piller, 2022), which can lead to social isolation, misinformation and stress (UNESCO, 2026). The overlap in comprehension needs, also highlights the importance of addressing overlapping challenges (Transcription City, 2024).
User Problem Statement
"Marco is an international student learning a new language who needs more accessible customisation and language options for CC because he finds SKY Glass’s current offerings very distracting and limiting, making him feel confused when he can’t understand the dialogue, leading to a disinterested viewing experience.”
Feature Ideas and Evaluation
Ideation By utilising the Opportunity Solution Tree (Appendix.C.1), we mapped effective pathways to enhance CC accessibility. Following brainstorming, SCAMPER analysis (Appendix.C.2), user research and analysing the Sky Community’s customer complaints forum (Appendix.B.1), we identified several product feature opportunities to address user needs and increase satisfaction. Evaluation Determining success of our ideas required in-depth interviews, surveys and testing our low and mid fidelity prototypes (Appendix.D.3, C.4, D.5). Based on insightful feedback on desirability, feasibility and viability we decided to pursue the “Lookup and Translate” feature. Through our RICE analysis and VPC (Appendix.C.3.1, B.3), we concluded our feature best alleviates user pain points, offering customisation and language options. Our solution benefits both target and general users, retaining their attention and minimising their need to search definitions of words on personal devices. We will implement our feature by introducing CC customisation options. However, language expansion and adding multiple dictionaries will be data-intensive, requiring optimisation of existing technologies. Feature ideas like BSL translations would bridge disability accessibility needs for the deaf/hard-of-hearing community, currently we were unable to validate this initiative in this phase. We still aim to increase accessibility for all users and will defer for further testing and refinement.
Prototype
Lookup & Translate Change Language Bookmarked
Rationale
Accessibility Ensuring subtitles are large enough with sufficient contrast for optimal visibility (Wallace, 2023), accommodating users with visual impairments or reading difficulties (BBC Academy, 2024). Centralised customisation We focused on language customisation but also explored other options to ensure alignment with Sky's broader goals. Structure The design is optimised for TV navigation (Pacheco, 2017) with a top-placed back button and strategically positioned buttons for easy D-Pad use and quick exiting. Translation Users can access translations via the full translation screen or the quick translation option using the D-Pad. Bookmark Functionality Users can easily bookmark for uninterrupted viewing.
Assumptions
We consolidated our assumptions and identified hypothesis and mitigation strategies (Appendix.D.1). The Riskiest assumption was: “Users will want to pause content to use the Lookup and Translate feature.” The hypothesis was tested using a survey and further post-launch metrics that need to be monitored. Success metric: 50% won’t mind pausing. Mitigation: Quick bookmark/translate options.
Objectives
Our UX testing aimed to evaluate the usability, functionality and user experience of the Lookup and Translate feature, gathering insights for future improvements. Testing Goals Accessibility Discoverability Ease of use Key Tasks Define word Translate word Bookmark Change language
Target Audience
Individuals who frequently use CC and have language accessibility needs.
Hypothesis
Hypothesis 1: Lookup By clicking on a word at least 80% of users will be able to lookup a word within 15 seconds, rating the process as easy. Hypothesis 2: Translation Providing an easy way to translate, at least 80% of users will be able to find translate option and translate a word within 10 seconds and rate the process as easy. Hypothesis 3: Bookmarking By providing an easy way to bookmark, at least 80% of users will be able to find the bookmark or quick bookmark option and bookmark a word within 10 seconds rating the process as easy Hypothesis 4: Language Customisation At least 70% of users will be able to find the language customisation settings within 20 seconds, rating the process as easy.
Validation and Results
UX Testing 5 participants tested. Hypothesis Validation (Appendix.D.6) Lookup % in range Proved 80% Within 15 second 100% Yes 80% success rate 100% Yes 80% score as easy to use 100% Yes Translation % in range Proved 80% Within 10 seconds 100% Yes 80% success rate 100% Yes 80% score as easy to use 100% Yes Bookmarking % in range Proved 80% Within 10 second 60% No 80% success rate 60% No 80% score as easy to use 60% No Language Customization % in range Proved 70% Within 20 second 100% Yes 80% success rate 100% Yes 80% score as easy to use 80% Yes Survey Note: Sample size needs expanding for more refined results and accuracy. Key Takeaways Users with accessibility needs value the lookup feature. (Figure 3) Language learners and Deaf users are don’t have issues with pausing to use feature (86% & 100% respectively) (Figure 2) Key Survey Statistics 74 respondents with different accessibility needs (Figure 1) Survey Link Distribution: Facebook disability and language groups, WhatsApp and online forums. Figure 1 Demographics Figure 2 Pausing content Figure 3 Lookup feature Recommendations Common themes Recommendations Priority When Illustration Can’t find the bookmark Make Bookmarking clearer Minor Immediate Figure 4 Had to move D-Pad to immediately exit lookup Place back button at top left for easy access Minor immediate Figure 4 I just want to be able to view a quick translation Add a quick translation option to the menu Minor Immediate Figure 5 How do I select the translation language Added a default translation option Moderate Immediate Figure 6 Out of scope Removed BSL High Immediate Figure 7 I don’t want to have to view whole clip when I visit bookmark Allow users to view text first and have option replay clip Minor Immediate Figure 8