TikTok TV Navigation
Overview
We are enhancing the left navigation bar by removing features that are less used and elevating specific categories from the Categories page. This initiative aims to deliver a streamlined watching experience, minimizing user decision fatigue.
- Lead Product Designer
- UX design / Visual design
- TV
- Choice impact
Problems
Choice impact
According to Netflix research, streaming services should help users find something to watch in 90 seconds to keep them from looking elsewhere. Too many choices slow down how fast users pick something to watch, and may push them off the platform entirely.
The fact
Necessary but not important
Not all categories get the same attention. Most categories — Family, News, Fashion, Daily Life, Beauty, Autos, Animals, Food, Lip Sync, and Animation — attract less than 2% of users who check out the Categories tab.
FYF
48.59%
Trending
6.79%
Following
6.09%
Comedy
4.88%
Dancing
4.51%
Entertainment
3.81%
Fashion
0.96%
News
0.65%
Family
0.58%
Process
Four iterations in
Upon arrival, users should be able to start watching a video promptly. Shortening the search time matters because TikTok operates differently from subscription platforms: users don't browse for a specific title — they expect immediate content.
V1: Nav covered on videos too much
V2: Transition of animation on large screen is too dramatic
V3: Go to setting & feedback tab take too much effort
V4: Covered too much on landscape videos
The new visual
Reduce visual disruption
Video content is the top priority on TikTok TV. We aimed to minimize the impact of other elements on the page that could distract from the viewing experience.
But we still wanted users to explore content from other categories. The navigation became a vessel for category discovery: because short videos tolerate partial occlusion, it stays partially visible during consumption rather than fully hidden.
We simplified the interface around a dark aesthetic and line iconography to reduce visual disruption and emphasize the feed, using a red bar to mark which category the user is watching.
Animation
Tracking user attention
The navigation has a 48-pixel offset animation to more effectively capture and track the user's attention. The same logic applies to the secondary navigation.
Impact
Results
After the full launch of the new navigation, TikTok TV playback time, video views, and active days all improved.
+1.02%
+1.2%
+0.7%
More work
