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DarylM
Legend 5
Legend 5

"Watch something new" pop up

I was watching the lastest episode of The Americans.  It was an enthralling slow-build episode with a subtle conclusion.  So I was extremely annoyed that, during the final scene, a message popped up inviting me to "Watch something new".

 

I hate pop-up ads and banners at the best of times.  But the ending of a show is the most important part, and to have it interrupted is very distracting.  Especially on a service I'm paying for!

 

To cap it all, if I click on the 'yes' option, I'm taken away from the show I'm currently watching.  What's the point of that?

 

If you absolutely must have these pop ups (and I'm not convinced you do) then why not have them 20 seconds from the end when, almost always, the credits will be rolling?  Or, better yet, after I've finished watching my show?

 

I love the content on Now TV, but this has made me genuinely angry.  I know I shouldn't be bothered by something so trivial, but I really don't want this on a service I have to pay for. 

 

Please remove these pop ups as soon as possible.  Thank you.



If this has solved your issue please mark this as an accepted solution.

Those little green stars by my name mean that I'm a Community Contributor - not Now TV staff. I just try to help out if I can.

107 REPLIES 107
Anonymous User
Not applicable

It'll be 30 seconds from the end, and if you are watching say episode 10 of 22, the popup should have episode 11 (based on what's been happening with Android). 

As the 30 seconds is defined against each episode in the meta, I'm sure someone is working on getting a better number for each asset. The trick is to make sure it's not too late as lots of people just hit back when the credits start.

DarylM
Legend 5
Legend 5

I see now.  Having watched Ep1 of Bob's Burgers, the pop up is intended to be 'Watch next episode'.  If there is no next episode then it suggests something else to watch.

 

However, it's incredibly annoying if it just pops up before the credits.  Netflix and Amazon have the same feature, but they only come up once the credits have started.

 


@Anonymous User wrote:

It'll be 30 seconds from the end


It was over a minute before the end of The Americans.  30 seconds would have been ok, since that would have been during the end credits.



If this has solved your issue please mark this as an accepted solution.

Those little green stars by my name mean that I'm a Community Contributor - not Now TV staff. I just try to help out if I can.

DarylM
Legend 5
Legend 5

I had thought that this was a misguided attempt to promote content by deliberately interrupting shows on catch up.  I realise now that it was a mistake as a consequence of the new 'Next Episode' feature.

 

This feature is clearly intended to pop up at the start of the end credits.  But errors have been made in the timing of the pop ups on certain episodes of The Americans and Bob's Burgers (to name the two that I've noticed so far).

 

I hope that these timing errors won't happen too often and that, when they do happen, they can be fixed quickly and easily.



If this has solved your issue please mark this as an accepted solution.

Those little green stars by my name mean that I'm a Community Contributor - not Now TV staff. I just try to help out if I can.

Anonymous User
Not applicable

Having looked at episode 11s meta it has end credits set to - 30 seconds (the same as everything that I've seen so far) but a running time of 2400 seconds. My guess is that the run time is too short and my second guess is that ITV are responsible for entering that field. 

Anonymous User
Not applicable

@DarylM thanks for reporting this, and @Anonymous User thanks for your detective work!

 

I've fed this back to the right people here, and we'll aim to get that fixed.

 

Thanks,

 

Tom

Anonymous User
Not applicable

Having access to a PC I've dug a little further. For the first time I've found a creditStart value which isn't -30.

 

For the four episode of The Americans we have:

Episode Duration Credits Start
8 2460 2424
9 2460 2451
10 2520 -30
11 2400 -30

 

I haven't played any content to see when the prompts appear and if the durations actually match the run time.

DarylM
Legend 5
Legend 5

@Anonymous User wrote:

Having access to a PC I've dug a little further. For the first time I've found a creditStart value which isn't -30.

 

For the four episode of The Americans we have:

EpisodeDurationCredits Start
824602424
924602451
102520-30
112400-30

 

I haven't played any content to see when the prompts appear and if the durations actually match the run time.


 

Playing the episodes of The Americans on the Now TV box, I estimate:

 

EpisodeDurationPop-up appears
824622425
924892452
1025662491
1124512371

 

My by-hand figures for the pop-up are consistently 1 second off artesea's info.  So Ep 10 has incorrect meta data of a duration of 2520, giving a Credits Start time of 2490 (1 second off my 2491 - slow fingers?  Smiley Tongue).

 

Since the actual duration is 2566, this means that the pop-up appears 46 seconds before the credits start.  I guess we can blame ITV for giving the wrong info.



If this has solved your issue please mark this as an accepted solution.

Those little green stars by my name mean that I'm a Community Contributor - not Now TV staff. I just try to help out if I can.

DarylM
Legend 5
Legend 5

Bob's Burgers also seems to have the wrong duration/credit start info.

 

For Ep 1 I get:

 

DurationPop-up appearsCredits start
124311711205

 

So the pop-up appears 34 seconds before it should.

 

The 'start watching something new' banner appears too early on Episode 2 as well.



If this has solved your issue please mark this as an accepted solution.

Those little green stars by my name mean that I'm a Community Contributor - not Now TV staff. I just try to help out if I can.

DarylM
Legend 5
Legend 5

I've just tested ep 21 of The Middle because it's one of the few shows (usually sitcoms) which have credits playing over the end scene.  So I feared that the end scene would be disrupted by the 'next ep' pop-up and the accompanying greying-out of a large section of the screen.

 

Happily, the pop-up did not appear until the very end.

 

When it is timed correctly, the 'Next Episode' button is a useful feature.  Even so, does the pop-up need to have the greying-out of the bottom of the screen as well?  It makes it quite difficult to see what is playing on the screen.  I think the pop-ups would be perfectly visible without the greying-out.

 

Also, it is to be hoped that this feature is one step closer to auto-playing the next episode of a box set.  I'm used to Amazon's app on my smart TV where the pop up appears and you have the choice of either:

 

a) pressing ok to start the next episode straight away

b) not pressing anything and letting the credits reach the end - at which point the next episode automatically plays.

 

I would like Now TV to keep the 'Not now' button, though.  It clears away the pop-up - and sometimes I don't want to watch the next episode straight away!



If this has solved your issue please mark this as an accepted solution.

Those little green stars by my name mean that I'm a Community Contributor - not Now TV staff. I just try to help out if I can.