Predictive & Personalized

Saturday Night Live is an iconic brand and property. Spanning over 50 Seasons, over 1000 episodes and 25,000 comedy sketches - my teams were tasked to develop and application for the big 40 Year Anniversary of the Show.

Our challenge was both quick and clear - How do we surface the breadth, depth and scale of the library for existing while breathing new life into the series and acquiring new fans and audiences.

We recognized that NBC had a unique opportunity to leverage this opportunity and the forthcoming 40th Anniversary Special. We quickly identified the opportunities for fans and seized the moment by creating a new experience that would ultimately capture the history of SNL cast, sketches and comedy history from 1975 to present day.

CONCEPT SKETCHES

In the early brainstorming and sketching stages, my Product Design and Experience teams discovered no existing apps that met our needs. We aimed for a viewing experience combining elements of Tinder/Bark Buddy and Pandora/Spotify, focusing on the humor of sketch comedy, spontaneous moments, and the improv origins of Second City.

We soon recognized we were creating a product that would change how people view, consume, and share videos, tailored to user preferences, habits, and real-time interactions.

EARLY CONCEPTUAL WIRES & PROTOTYPES

After our initial research and brainstorming, my teams collaborated with executives and the show to create wireframes and prototypes. This helped us test the screen flow with real customers. We spoke to small groups from different backgrounds to assess whether the final product would work.

ANNOTATED UX FLOWS & GESTURES

After defining the video engine's structure, we turned our attention to the CMS, metadata, and key moments that would enhance the predictive engine. The Product & Design UX team aimed to improve the user experience by developing engaging features and interactions that would personalize the experience.

We agreed that gestures should be straightforward, intuitive, and memorable. Swiping left, right, up, and down would lead to different outcomes for content and the predictive engine. Each gesture significantly increased viewing times, with improvements of 10X.

THE FINAL PRODUCT

After 9 months of work, the SNL40 App was ready to launch. It featured a vast collection of comedy that users could access easily. In just 3 weeks, the app reached over 5 million mobile downloads. Within 3 months, we streamed more than 500 million clips, with usage steadily increasing after each Saturday Night Live episode.