The features discussed below are now available for all ZenVideo OTT sellers. For the most up-to-date information, see Overview of OTT design and customizations.
If you do not have branded apps for your ZenVideo OTT site, contact your account manager or our sales team.
ZenVideo OTT is soon rolling out some major updates to your mobile apps’ design and new customizations to allow you more control over how your content displays in category rows on the web and in branded apps. This article previews what these new features are and provides design specifications so that you can start creating new creative assets now and take advantage of these features as soon as they roll out.
These changes will roll out with version 9.100 of the apps and shortly thereafter on the web in late spring 2025.
In this article:
- Overview of design enhancements for mobile OTT apps
- Overview of customization options for featured categories
- Overview of new customizations for category rows
Overview of design enhancements for mobile OTT apps
With the release of iOS and Android versions 9.100, your mobile apps will see a design refresh. The navigation and page structure will remain the same, but all screens will receive an updated, modernized look and feel.
Below are the refreshed Browse, Search, and Settings pages:
Overview of customization options for featured categories
When you feature a category, you will have the option to add video thumbnails for the content within that category and change the mobile thumbnail display style. Read on to learn about these features and what your assets will need in order to use them.
What are featured thumbnail videos?
ZenVideo OTT is adding support for video thumbnails on mobile apps, allowing you to add a short Featured thumbnail video to any video or collection, which will play back when a viewer sees it in the Featured category carousel on mobile apps.
Here’s what your viewers will see:
- When a video or collection is added to the Featured category and has a video thumbnail asset, the video thumbnail will play through twice and then revert to the static thumbnail.
- Captions (if provided) will be enabled on the video by default.
- Volume will be set to OFF by default, but users can toggle either on or off for the duration of the session.
- Featured Thumbnail Videos will be supported on iOS and Android. On web and TV apps, only your static thumbnails will display.
Video thumbnail asset requirements
If you want to use video thumbnails for your videos or collections, be sure each video asset meets these requirements:
- Videos should be uploaded in 16:14 or 2:3 aspect ratio.
- The asset that plays back will be determined by the category content appearance setting chosen for the Featured category (more on this below).
- Videos should be 30 seconds or shorter
- Videos must have their “Plan” set to Anyone
- Video cannot have DRM enabled
- When a Preview Video is present for an item in the Featured category, the video will play in the full Featured video section with no text or buttons overlaid, so be sure to add any text or branding directly within the video file, such as the video or collection title.
Mobile featured category appearance options
We are adding a vertical option for the Featured category to better spotlight your most important content on mobile devices.
You will have the ability to set the Featured category appearance on mobile to be the Default (16:14) or a Vertical (2:3) Featured thumbnail.
- The Default option will display 16:14 artwork on mobile when you have added them to the video or collection asset. If 16:14 artwork is not added, the featured category will default back to the 16:9 primary thumbnail.
- The Vertical option will utilize the vertical thumbnail from the Additional Thumbnails section of a video or collection’s General settings.
- On TV and web, the Featured category will default to the 16:6 Featured image thumbnail. If 16:6 artwork is not added, the featured category will default back to the 16:9 primary thumbnail.
16:14 thumbnail 2:3 thumbnail
Mobile featured category layout options
You will be able to control the style of how your Featured category displays on your iOS and Android apps, regardless of the chosen appearance setting for the thumbnail discussed above. The options are:
-
Full Width - Your thumbnail will span the full width of the device.
- For TV apps and web, your Featured category will always display the Full Width style.
-
Card Style - Your thumbnail will have rounded corners, and the edge of the next item will peak out from the side, indicating to the viewer that they can swipe sideways to see the next item.
Full Width Carousel Card Style Carousel
Overview of new customizations for category rows
At the category level, you will be able to control the aspect ratio of the thumbnails, the size of the thumbnails, whether the title text should show below the thumbnails, and if the thumbnails in that category should display a countdown overlay. Each of these settings can be set independently for each category to allow you the most granular control over how your category rows are displayed. More details about each of these upcoming features are discussed below.
Content category appearance
When the Featured category checkbox is not enabled, this setting allows you to choose the aspect ratio of the thumbnails in that category’s row. Your chosen thumbnail aspect ratio will display for this category across all devices (Mobile apps, TV apps, web). The options are:
- Default (16:9)
- Vertical (2:3)
- Square (1:1)
Thumbnail size
This setting allows you to choose the size (Standard or Small) for how your thumbnail display in the category’s row on mobile and TV apps (support for this feature on the web will be available after support for branded apps). This feature does not require additional thumbnail assets, but controls the size they display.
Item title display
This setting will allow you to hide the text below the thumbnails in the category’s row on mobile and TV apps (support for this feature on the web will be available after support for branded apps).
Countdown overlays
Countdown overlays will allow you to highlight your top content in a “countdown” style. When enabled, the category row will show the first ten items in this category with a numbered overlay displayed over the top of your thumbnails.
The overlay number will correspond to the content’s position in the category, with the first item being 1, the second item being 2, etc.
Categories marked as Countdown rows will display the countdown overlay on mobile and TV apps, but will display as normal non-overlay rows on the web. Your site will come preloaded with a standard countdown style overlay, but you will be able to design and upload your own overlays.
If you wish to upload your own overlays, ensure they meet these specifications:
- Your overlays must be transparent .png files.
- You will have the option to upload files for each aspect ratio. With that in mind, your overlay files’ aspect ratios should match the category appearance aspect ratio you will use for that category row:
- 1:1 overlay
- 16:9 overlay
- 2:3 overlay
Once enabled, you will be able to upload the overlays directly in your OTT admin in the Content section of your Site Settings.
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