Telia Play · 2025
Reimagining the Channel Picker
A unified live TV experience across Sweden, Norway and Finland, designed to feel familiar, while making it easier to discover what's on and take action.
- Role
- Product Designer
- Platforms
- TV platforms; Android & Apple
- Product Strategy
- Information Architecture
- Multi-market UX
Background
Live TV is at the heart of Telia Play
Around 80% of our users primarily use Telia Play to watch Live TV. For many, it's a daily habit, and traditional TV viewers are especially sensitive to changes in the viewing experience.
The challenge
Different needs across three markets
As we merged the Telia Play platform across Sweden, Norway and Finland, we needed a channel navigation experience that worked for all markets. Norwegian and Finnish users wanted to be able to set recordings from playback and easily navigate upcoming programmes. Swedish users needed clearer program information and a better way to browse what's coming up.
The problem
A fragmented experience
The previous channel picker only let you navigate between channels in a horizontal row. It allowed users to see the titles of three upcoming programs on the channel, but did not provide any program information or the ability to interact with the programs. This made it harder to discover content and take action, especially for users who wanted to plan ahead and set recordings on upcoming programs.
Designing for three markets
One solution, three perspectives
Norway
Norwegian users needed to easily navigate upcoming programs and set recordings directly from playback.
Sweden
Swedish users needed clearer program information and a better way to browse what's coming up next.
Finland
Finnish users had similar needs to Norway, with a focus on program navigation and recording functionality.
Exploring the solution
A new navigation model
Before: channel-first navigation
A simple, horizontal channel list, with limited program information and no direct access to upcoming content.
After: channel + program navigation
A combined vertical and horizontal navigation, making it easy to explore what's on, see what's coming up and take action without leaving the channel picker.
Validation before solution
Testing in steps
Prototype
We created interactive prototypes to explore and validate the concept, focusing on navigation and key interactions.
Friendly-user testing
We tested with internal and friendly users to check if the new navigation felt intuitive. We were mindful that feedback could be biased, as people often expect a new design to be better.
Pilot in real homes
Before full rollout, we tested the solution with a few thousand users in their natural home environment over several weeks, to see how it worked over time in real life.
What we learned
Initial friction, but a smooth transition
Change aversion
Some users were initially frustrated by the visual change, as the new navigation looked different from what they were used to. However, the friction faded after the first few uses.
Real-world testing gave confidence
Testing in a real environment gave us more confidence than friendly-user testing alone, and helped us make final refinements before the full rollout.
Result
A smoother transition across 800,000 users
The new live TV channel picker was rolled out to approximately 800,000 users across Sweden, Norway and Finland, with a smooth transition.