Virtual MVPD Frndly TV unveiled today a series of upgrades that aim to amplify the user experience. The features, requested by Frndly TV subscribers, are now available on the platform.
The first update adds flexibility to the channel guide. Customers may elect to use Frndly TV’s regular program guide or one that’s alphabetized by channel name. Viewers can also more easily search for titles they want to watch, with Frndly TV’s addition of tabs on the content discovery page.
The third feature is an updated “timing bar,” which gives viewers more precise control of where they paused a show or movie. Frndly TV will show how far viewers are into the program, displaying how many minutes are left.
These updates highlight Frndly TV’s focus on making decisions guided by customer feedback.
“Our customers are very engaged with Frndly TV and we get hundreds of requests and suggestions every month,” said Joey Monjure, Frndly TV’s VP of product and customer experience, in a statement. “We’re very happy that we can roll out these three elements immediately and look forward to bringing our customers more requested functionality in the future.”
Since launching in 2019, Frndly TV has added over 40 live and on-demand channels and has increased its monthly price only once – from $5.99 to $6.99 per month. Programming-wise, Frndly TV in April added three new Weigel Broadcasting networks to its channel lineup.
FrndlyTV’s enhanced user features call to mind the streaming industry’s ongoing discourse about simplifying the user experience. A StreamTV Show panel earlier this month discussed how UX impacts streaming aggregation. Randy Ahn, head of SVOD at the Roku Channel, pointed to Roku’s Continue Watching row as an example.
“It’s more about ‘what content do I want to watch and how easy it is to get to that content’,” Ahn said, as Roku’s feature not only saves a user’s progress but also compiles AVOD and SVOD offerings in one place.