Netflix updates kids profiles, redesigns UI for easy viewing

Digital streaming giant Netflix on April 13 announced that it is redesigning the kids profile on the app and that special emphasis will be given to content discovery and improved personalisation of suggestions.

The new user interface (UI) is available globally on TV. A noticeable change in the kids section of the app is that recommended titles will be replaced with favourites. The idea behind this is that Netflix wants to let users watch their preferred titles as soon as they switch the TV on, without having to navigate.

Though recommendations on Netflix are also personalised to some extent, the redesign ensures that viewers can pick up right where they left off. According to Netflix, children must watch a title at least once for it to appear in their top row of favourites. In order to boost engagement, Netflix has also included an avatar from each title in the favourites row to pop up.

The redesign is going to make it easier for parents to quickly tune kids into their favorite shows, without having to waste time on hunting for suitable titles. The new homepage for the  kids’ section is designed specifically for each user and is a character-driven interface which connects with kids.

The new UI is available on TVs globally for now and will soon be tested for tablets and mobile devices.

In April 2020, Netflix had announced an update related to parental control which allowed each system to have pin-protected profiles. This was Netflix’s biggest update since 2013, which was when they announced kids profiles. Another feature of this update was the ability to filter out titles that may not be suitable for children. This allowed parents to monitor what their kids were watching.

Netflix’s announcement regarding this redesign of the kids’ profile has come just a few weeks after Forbes declared that CocoMelon had surpassed Bridgerton as Netflix’s most popular programme of 2021.