Hmm.. quick disclaimer, I was also firmly in the "this doesn't add value to the customer" camp. In the end, the work required was small enough (just linking off to a 2P partner ticketing site) so I dropped my objections -- it's okay to me, as long as the cost/benefit ratio is reasonably balanced. (And there's a nuanced discussion that's had, about upfront-cost vs long/forever operational cost.)
But.. tbh I never really learned if this moved the needle for sales, or not, or not by much. And if I don't know, then the answer is presumably.. well the pandemic happened so it's maybe not fair to judge in hindsight. I'll just observe that the user experience for this hasn't really changed or been further invested in, since I left in 2019.
Otoh I'm very glad to see they jumped at the chance to solve the "where to watch" problem for customers, as soon as [objections were removed] and that feature does appear to be an area of continued focus and investment..
From what I recall it did move the needle on investment. I was certainly paying attention given the extended anecdote. I could be wrong - but I feel like I would remember the story less positively if it turned out to one of those things that sounded great but wasn't ultimately true.
Agree - I am pretty thrilled to see that the "where to watch" got to be a thing much later. I'm a bit sad I wasn't there to see it - I felt I certainly worked pretty hard from multiple angles to get it a go ahead over concerns.
The "where to watch" was an area where sales and literally everyone I think at IMDb was aligned on being great for customers and advertisers. Even though it didn't help close, I remain pretty proud of the work Steve Rospo and I did to put together a quantitative customer view as to how many visitors got incomplete information about where to watch something with the Amazon only product.
Hmm.. quick disclaimer, I was also firmly in the "this doesn't add value to the customer" camp. In the end, the work required was small enough (just linking off to a 2P partner ticketing site) so I dropped my objections -- it's okay to me, as long as the cost/benefit ratio is reasonably balanced. (And there's a nuanced discussion that's had, about upfront-cost vs long/forever operational cost.)
But.. tbh I never really learned if this moved the needle for sales, or not, or not by much. And if I don't know, then the answer is presumably.. well the pandemic happened so it's maybe not fair to judge in hindsight. I'll just observe that the user experience for this hasn't really changed or been further invested in, since I left in 2019.
Otoh I'm very glad to see they jumped at the chance to solve the "where to watch" problem for customers, as soon as [objections were removed] and that feature does appear to be an area of continued focus and investment..
Sorry didn't mean to relitigate this one. :P
From what I recall it did move the needle on investment. I was certainly paying attention given the extended anecdote. I could be wrong - but I feel like I would remember the story less positively if it turned out to one of those things that sounded great but wasn't ultimately true.
Agree - I am pretty thrilled to see that the "where to watch" got to be a thing much later. I'm a bit sad I wasn't there to see it - I felt I certainly worked pretty hard from multiple angles to get it a go ahead over concerns.
The "where to watch" was an area where sales and literally everyone I think at IMDb was aligned on being great for customers and advertisers. Even though it didn't help close, I remain pretty proud of the work Steve Rospo and I did to put together a quantitative customer view as to how many visitors got incomplete information about where to watch something with the Amazon only product.