Enhancing Partner and business monetization while streaming live football matches across Europe and South America.
Building a solution that has three key groups reliant on the outcome can lead to an interesting outcome, this was the case for this project that had advertising partners, the internal business and most importantly the end user to all keep happy. This is how I approached the project.
Project Overview
I joined OneFootball's monetization tribe, facing a multitude of fascinating challenges. The primary objective was to generate revenue without compromising the user experience. The focus was on increasing the click-through rate, particularly for users seeking a partner match stream, as it had been declining by 8%.
This project was a collaborative effort spanning across four different internal tribes: Monetization, Video, Advertisement, and Matches. The interplay of these diverse teams demanded adept stakeholder management, as each tribe had its distinct goals and KPIs related to the same placement.
The timeline for this ambitious endeavor was just one month, strategically planned during the football calendar offseason. Within this timeframe, we conducted in-depth discovery research and underwent key stakeholder design reviews, ensuring a well-informed and comprehensive approach to the project.
Key Contributions
Some of my key contributions to this project:
• Spearheading the entire Product Design process, from the initial discovery phase to the final execution, all within a tight one-month timeline.
• Facilitating crucial design reviews with key stakeholders, including the Chief Product Officer (CPO), Head of Product, and Head of Sales. These sessions ensured alignment and validation of design directions with the broader business objectives.
• Organizing and conducting team-building workshops, aimed at fostering a cohesive and collaborative environment within the project team. Together, we developed a set of guiding principles that provided a solid foundation for making informed design decisions.
• Making substantial contributions to the design library by creating new components, each accompanied by meticulous specifications for various devices and design libraries. These additions enhanced the efficiency and consistency of the design process across the project.
The Problem
We encounter a concerning situation with the TV Guide feature, which was once performing well but has been experiencing a steady decline week after week, plummeting to around 8% engagement. As we approach the upcoming football season, it becomes evident that immediate action is required to rectify this decline and revamp the TV Guide. The primary aim is to enhance user engagement and boost revenue generation for the platform.
However, this problem is further complicated by three major goals that demand resolution:
Develop a comprehensive TV Guide that enables users to identify the streaming service broadcasting the match, granting fans seamless access to the stream.
Elevate the click-through rate of the TV Guide to surpass 9%, thereby expanding the streaming partners' audience and bolstering their subscription numbers.
Prioritize OneFootball's own streaming option above other alternatives, ensuring it gains prominence and effectively contributes to our revenue growth.
Successfully addressing these challenges will lead to the establishment of a sustainable ecosystem, generating revenue within this specific segment of the matchday experience. Our approach to resolving these issues will be crucial in achieving a robust and flourishing platform.
How did we solve this?
In addressing this challenge, our approach involved developing a new component for the TV Guide, adopting a more visually appealing approach that prominently showcases the branding of the Stream partners, as opposed to the previously used greyscale logos. This strategic shift aimed to capture the attention of fans as they scroll through the match page, increasing the likelihood of identifying the Partner providing the stream. Additionally, a specific use case where one match could have two streaming partners necessitated the creation of an iterative version of the component, featuring a carousel that fans could swipe through to view both partners.
During the project, a significant design decision revolved around the color of the Call-to-Action (CTA) within the component. While our standard color system prescribed a black CTA, this clashed with the vibrant branding of the stream partners. After careful consideration, we opted to use our secondary colors to ensure visual harmony within the page. Although the black CTA was anticipated to boost the click-through rate, it was imperative to maintain overall visual balance and prevent any adverse impact on other key performance indicators (KPIs) on the page.
Notably, the entire project was designed for seamless integration with Google Ad Manager, a decision that provided numerous advantages. With this setup, the sales team gained the capability to update content and services effortlessly from their backend platform, reducing dependence on the product team. This successful experience with Google Ad Manager exceeded expectations, offering an effective solution for white-labeling our services.
Through these meticulous design choices and strategic implementations, we aimed to create an optimized TV Guide that enhances user engagement, stream partner visibility, and overall revenue generation, while maintaining a cohesive and visually pleasing user experience.
What we learnt
During this project some key things that I learnt were mostly around complex stakeholder management across not only multiple tribes, but multiple partners.
Making sure that the user and company goals are alligned on firstly, as this project spanned across four different internal tribes it was interesting to hear all goals that they might have for this component and work out how these might effect the project. An example of this was alligning with our internal video tribe on how we highlight when we have our own stream present. As their main KPI was OneFootball matches streamed it would have been negative for them if the stream was hidden behind streaming partners.
In terms of success of the project we A/B tested the new design in compared to the old one, starting in biggest market Brazil. With a click through rate jumping up to 23% this was considered highly succesful. To continue the roll out across our other major markets Germany, UK and Indonesia seen the Percentage drop to around 18% but it was still considered a win.
The next step fpr the project was to implement the designs across to the Desktop version of OneFootball which currently still has the old TV Guide implemented.