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The User Experience of Interactive TV
How Netflix’s Bandersnatch is Changing the Digital Viewing Experience.
Netflix debuted a brand new interactive “choose your own adventure” film where users are active participants. Black Mirror’s Bandersnatch is a stand-alone film that puts users in control of how the story plays out. I have watched and interacted with Bandersnatch on as many compatible devices as I could, and I am sharing my my experience as a user and giving my feedback of the overall usability of this interactive film.
Getting Started
There are four main devices that are compatible with this film: a smart TV, tablet, smart phone, or gaming console. I was hoping to watch this on my Apple TV, and I selected the thumbnail to begin watching. Instead of the film playing, it started to play a two minute clip explaining that my device was not compatible with this film.
To know if your device is compatible, Netflix created a thumbnail with a red badge, so users will be able to tell if they can watch it on a specific device or not.
As a first time user of this interactive experience, I wasn’t aware I needed to see a badge on the thumbnail. I was also a little disappointed that I had to move to another device to watch this movie, but since I love Black Mirror so much, I didn’t mind too much.
Making Decisions
Users haven’t interacted with film in such an active way before, so when they see their first set of choices, it might come as a surprise to them. I know I wasn’t expecting to decide what cereal the main character, Stefan, was going to have for breakfast. But I was in control of the story, and as a user, that made me feel important.
Once the choices show up on your screen, there is a line that begins to fade towards the center of the screen. This indicates how much time you have left to make a decision.
