Netflix Rewind

Netflix is pushing for more gaming content on mobile devices. However, with many users on desktops or smart TVs, Netflix needs a creative way to get them onto their phones.

This is a conceptual project I created solo in Figma

Background

With the global market for mobile games projected to reach $126 billion in 2025 (source), it’s no surprise that Netflix wants a piece of that pie. With clear monetization strategies such as microtransactions or add-ons to current packages, Netflix is looking to increase investment in this space (source).

Netflix Rewind is based on Spotify Wrapped, a mobile-only experience that organically grew word of mouth. The aim of the Netflix Rewind would be to raise awareness about Netflix games.

Context

I conducted user interviews with various friends who use Spotify. While all of them had looked at their Spotify Wrapped, not everyone posted it on social media. Some key insights that I gleaned from the user interviews were:

Seeing their personal stats was the most interesting part of Spotify Wrapped
The most shared stats were Top Artist, Top Track, and Top Genre, but there was a wide distribution in terms of respondents’ favorite stats
People were also interested in seeing others’ stats, usually the ones that they were most interested in for themselves

I’ve also expounded on what makes Spotify Wrapped so engaging in this blog post.

With the same users, I also interviewed them on their Netflix usage. Some key insights were:

People are less interested in hearing about what other people watch, but are keen to identify those who watch the same shows as them
Some people are driven by hype to watch shows/movies, but not everyone is
However, everyone tends to use shows/movies as a way to socialize at least somewhat regularly, showing that there is still a very strong social aspect to streaming

Research

Gathering quantitative research on Spotify Wrapped

Task

I worked on the Netflix Rewind concept by myself. This meant I conducted user research as well as the graphic design and prototyping.

The Team

How might we get users to play Netflix games on their mobile devices more?

The Mission

Create an experience similar to Spotify Wrapped that gets Netflix users onto their phones, where they can find Netflix games. At the end of the Netflix Rewind, there will be a gamified segment based on the movies and shows the user has watched, which will raise awareness of Netflix games.

The Plan

Execution

Wireframes

Based on Spotify Wrapped, there were some crucial design choices that I made note of. The first was that each stat had its own page, which kept clutter to a minimum and allowed users to share specific information. The second was that Spotify has played around with the visual style quite a bit throughout the years of Spotify Wrapped. This hurt Spotify’s branding as it lacked a consistent style, and it didn’t make use of album art that would be readily available, while at the same time being more aesthetically pleasing. I kept these two considerations in mind while creating the wireframes for Netflix Rewind.

Top Genres

Genres were a core interest of Spotify Wrapped users. For TV shows and movies it also made sense, as we tend to choose what to watch based on these categories. Unlike Spotify, which presents all top 5 genres at once, I wanted to show the specific posters of the shows or movies that they’ve watched within each genre.

Similar to Spotify Wrapped's Top Genre, I included a genre screen for Netflix

This was an alternative, more granular version that could utilize Netflix's hidden codes to generate even more engagement in users (Dark Comedy's code 869)

This is the background of the Comedy genre. While it wouldn't be too noticeable, it would help make the background not seem so monotonous while building on Netflix's brand of having a wide selection of shows

Party!

A common theme among the users I interviewed was the feeling of connectedness between watchers. At the time, the Stranger Things Season 4 finale had just premiered, and everyone was abuzz about what had happened. Shows have a funny way of connecting us to people, so I wanted to tap into that, especially with big events such as finales.

I included show-relevant copy to build that brand loyalty. The background for this screen is the Stranger Things Season 4 poster. While it's in the background now, it could probably be shown more prominently.

This version is the same except with the background being a still from a critical moment in the finale. The idea here is again to help build that brand loyalty and conjure up the same feelings the users had when watching this moment.

This is the picture I used in the previous screen, just brightened so you can see it.

The Game

Last, but not least, I needed to include a game to highlight Netflix’s gaming catalog. I chose trivia, as they had released a trivia game, and it could be personalized to the user based on what they watched. This would serve as a gateway to get people intrigued in what other games Netflix could offer.

I chose a trivia game as it would be easier to create and personalize for users. Trivia wouldn't need to be entirely personalized, but could be based on popular shows/movies to save development effort and time

Trivia is also a catch-all kind of game where most people won't hate it, but most will moderately to significantly enjoy it

The background is based on Netflix's Triviaverse which is, well, a trivia game

Conclusion

Potential KPIs

Since this is a conceptual project, I cannot provide any metrics on how well it would do. However, if I was the product manager, I would consider keeping an eye on these KPIs:

Number of new players for Netflix Games
Number of shares
New subscribers to Netflix

What I would work to improve on next time

While I’m satisfied with my work, there are still some areas that I would like to improve on if I had time. One would be to try testing this with actual users by getting their data (if possible) and creating a Netflix Rewind for them. Another way I could test this would be to just post the mockups on my own social media and see how many people expressed interest, for example, by asking me how I got a Netflix Rewind.

In terms of the UX/UI, I would have liked to add some motion graphics/animations to the prototypes. Spotify Wrapped isn’t static, and neither would Netflix Wrapped be. Some simple animations that I could achieve with some extra time would be animating the backgrounds, such as having the posters in the background of the Top Genre screen slowly rotate. Another one that would be quite easy could be adding a gif of the scene in the Party! screen that would bring the background to life.