CASE STUDY

Bringing Google Assistant voice command to All 4 customers

Amidst the increased popularity of smart speakers, Channel 4 identified a need to enable interactivity between these types of gadgets, Google Assistant, and its OTT service, All 4. By using voice command, users no longer need to type or scroll when searching for content, meaning that they can spend less time looking for their favourite programmes and more time watching them.

Channel 4 recognised the potential of the technology and wanted to adopt it early on in order to understand how All 4 interacted with voice interfaces. The ultimate goal of a voice command service was to make it easier for users to find and watch content. However, implementing this would be difficult; the technical process of ABOUT CHANNEL 4 voice recognition via a voice-user interface raises challenges around diction, accents, and phrases. Channel 4 was keen to resolve these obstacles prior to Channel 4 is a publicly-owned yet commercially- rolling out the feature. funded public service broadcaster and has a remit to be innovative, experimental and In addition to voice recognition challenges, Channel 4 knew that it had to fully distinctive. Its public ownership and not-for- understand its users’ needs when developing workflows; there were no best profit status ensure all profit generated by its practice principles to lean on as All 4 was one of the first platforms to incorporate commercial activity is directly reinvested back voice command. As a result, Channel 4 knew that it would need to work alongside into the delivery of its public service remit. As a knowledgeable solution providers and utilise user testing to maximise the potential publisher-broadcaster, Channel 4 is also of voice command. required to commission UK content from the independent production sector and currently The Solution works with around 300 creative companies across the UK every year. In addition to the main Having worked together on many other app development projects, Channel 4 Channel 4 service, its portfolio includes: E4, partnered with Accedo to deliver the All 4 voice command interface for Google Assistant. With its deep technical knowledge of the All 4 platform, and its extensive More4, Film4, 4Music, 4seven, Channel4.com experience of developing app features and capabilities, Accedo was able to build and digital service All 4. and implement a robust solution in a short timeframe.

Accedo worked to produce a Google Assistant enabled Chromecast application, CHANNEL 4 GOALS allowing users to navigate All 4 by using voice commands (e.g.,‘Google, play Gogglebox’). Accedo paid close attention to the user experience and used its expertise in voice command technology to plan and rigorously test the feature • Channel 4 could foresee the potential of voice prior to its release. The software required good quality digital data to ensure that command and its increasing popularity, and its precision rates, and the resulting interpretations, remained accurate. This therefore wished to integrate its All 4 OTT ensured that the software could recognise the words spoken by users and trigger service with Google Assistant. a workflow to the right area of the app. • Channel 4 prides itself on promoting ease of In addition to in-house testing, Accedo implemented data-driven design practices use for its customers, therefore it wished to to improve the user experience and app software performance, and utilised user implement voice command to increase testing and data analysis to monitor flaws in the voice recognition process. With satisfaction in the user experience. this information, Accedo was able to implement software updates to improve the platform’s capabilities of processing speech commands and turning these into actions. Google Assistant is generally very good at interpreting voice, but certain • Channel 4 wished to use the data obtained instructions proved problematic. For example, Countdown is a show on All 4 but from its voice command feature to further saying “Hey Google, Play Countdown” started a Google Assistant Timer. To understand usage and the user experience. overcome this, users had to be more specific by saying “Hey Google, Play Countdown from All 4”. CASE STUDY

Another challenge was the limited utterances available on the Google Assistant WHY CHANNEL 4 CHOSE ACCEDO platform. Google Assistant provides set utterances and does not allow With its unrivalled expertise in creating video developers to introduce custom commands. While this simplified development, user experiences, Accedo and Channel 4 have it limited the extensibility of usage. It also complicated the workflow, as Accedo worked together for several years with Accedo had to ensure that the utterances interacted with the required All 4 pages. providing invaluable advice and guidance. This is an extension of a longstanding partnership.”, Ben For example, Google Assistant’s fixed flows created a challenge when interacting Creasey, Product Manager, All 4 at Channel 4. with the All 4 parental guidance page, which is displayed when a programme has been selected. This should prompt the app to break the playback flow in order to deliver the page, but the system did not allow for this. Accedo created a solution KEY RESULTS in which an opt-out guidance page was introduced with a call to action message Accedo has successfully implemented a voice that adhered to the limited utterances. The solution required the app to stall the command service for the All 4 app which has the Google Assistant flow in order to allow the user to cancel the playback. Accedo capability to engage with the Google Assistant focused on the workflow and efficiency of the voice command, while monitoring voice command platform. Due to All 4’s early the effectiveness of the feature and its impression on the user. Feedback data adoption of voice command, it had an objective provided Accedo with insight into the app’s performance; whether it streamlined to understand user engagement and usage the viewing experience and whether it improved the user experience. patterns with the feature. Accedo was able to supply Channel 4 with insight into user activity and experience through data collection and analysis. During testing, users were able to quickly discover how to start and control playback. Their feedback was that the application was intuitive and easy to use.

Voice command has given All 4 users an easy- to-use service. It allows them to shortcut the sourcing of content by shortening a single playback journey to one sentence and removing the need to enter text using a remote control. Channel 4 has seen a higher than average engagement from users using the voice command feature. Channel 4 was pleased with the efficiency of the project and is looking to learn from it for future projects of a similar nature. When developing the voice command capability, Accedo also introduced features to improve app functionality. For example, autoplay was added to make the app play the next episode without needing input from the user. Additionally, an ‘end of playback’ screen was introduced (presenting the user with programme CHALLENGES suggestions) making content easy to find and keeping the user engaged. • Accedo and Channel 4 spent time liaising with Google to ensure a fully integrated interface. Accedo also implemented a ‘resume’ feature to allow users to rejoin a programme at the point where they finished watching it. This feature was • There was a need for Accedo to implement already part of the existing All 4 app, but posed a challenge in the way that it data analysis and user testing to ensure that interacted with voice command. When testing, Accedo identified that the resume the platform performed suitably. points were not consistently saved and that the command ‘Hey Google, stop’ was • Accedo implemented its experience and closing the app before it was able to complete the API call. Accedo discussed the expertise in voice recognition to deliver a issue with All 4 and gathered metrics regarding the API loads to ascertain reliable voice control feature. whether it would be possible for the app to recurrently observe resume points during use. As a result, it was identified that it could be configured to observe • Being a new technology, extra time was the resume points every 30 seconds. needed to develop workflows and processes in order to deliver a seamless and efficient service to customers. CASE STUDY

Through its knowledge and experience of implementing voice recognition WHAT'S NEXT FOR THE CUSTOMER software and stringent monitoring of the service, Accedo successfully fulfilled As uptake in the smart speaker sector continues Channel 4’s brief. All 4’s operating capability increased to over 20 platforms to increase, Channel 4 expects to see a gradual following the voice command app update implemented by Accedo. growth in the future and will continue to implement voice recognition with other smart speaker services. It has enabled Alexa voice search on Amazon Fire TV and Universal Search on Apple devices. Channel 4 feels it has placed itself in a strong position to have the best voice implementation platform by the time user adoption becomes significant.

"With its unrivalled expertise in creating video user experiences, Accedo and Channel 4 have worked together for several years with Accedo providing invaluable advice and guidance. This is an extension of a longstanding partnership.”

Ben Creasey, Product Manager, All 4 at Channel 4