Timba Vision
a blockchain-enabled D2C app that rewards users for sharing their TV viewership data and streaming history with advertisers and brands
Product Manager: Matthew Eisner
Product Designer: Teresa Pesenti
Front-End Developer: Shuo Yang
What is
Timba Vision
?
Timba Vision is a platform that incentivizes users to share their data, gives them adequate value for it, and creates better viewership experiences for them. It is a blockchain-enabled D2C app that rewards users for opting-in to share their TV viewership, streaming history, and other personal data with advertisers and brands. Building from an advantage of nearly 100 million TVs enabled with Samba TV ACR technology, users have the ability to link their TV and streaming services to their account in our app. This enables them to set data sharing preferences for how their data is utilized and who can purchase it, as well as accrue and redeem rewards for sharing their data.
What is the problem?
Users have privacy concerns
- 70% of Americans believe users should be paid when a company sells their data
- They are tired of being creepily tracked and targeted without controls
- The Adtech and Data Brokerage industry collects vast amounts of data in non-transparent ways
- High-profile customer data breaches are too frequent
Data is Monopolized
- Tech monopolies hoard massive datasets and make IDs more obscure
- Privacy browsers and and ad blockers are growing on desktop and mobile devices
- Right-to-be forgotten is now the law in Europe (GDPR) and becoming global (eg CPRA)
- Businesses demand more accurate, deeper, cross-platform data to understand marketing ROI
Data is Fragmented
- Consumer attention is divided amongst an increasing number of screens, platforms, each with their own data + ID that does not match
- Big tech platforms do NOT combine their data leading to a few big silos of data and many little slices that don’t complete the picture even if combined
- No single ID for media consumption exists, allowing the biggest data controllers to extend their monopolies
- Smaller media companies are losing share of ad budgets because they cannot deliver scale in audience or performance
- 3rd party measurement firms buy user data to bridge these gaps but these panels are very small
Regulatory trends will mandate a user-centric, opt-in solution for advertising and user data
- Consumers now enjoy statutory rights to access and delete their data from any major platform
- This will lead to data management solutions to empower users and a zero-party data marketplace
- Blockchain creates infrastructure that enables complex, decentralized marketplaces to thrive
- Data will prove to be the most valuable asset consumers control that a massive industry in media and tech will gladly pay for to achieve holistic understanding
What was the solution?
We enabled a user centric, stakeholder interest-aligned approach to fundamentally focus on the needs and interests of users.
- Users are fairly compensated in full control of their data, and are exposed to more relevant, useful, and delightful ads due to the data they provide
- Advertisers and brands have access to more detailed information on their customers and are enabled to better understand and serve their customers
- OEMs receive more (due to additional opt ins and data coverage) compensation for providing viewership data and are enabled to deliver a better experience for their users
- Ad networks do not extract the majority of value as profit, can provide higher ROI solutions to their clients to drive greater volume, and are disincentivized from engaging in predatory advertising tactics
For End-Consumer Users:
End consumers can earn tokens on our platform by verifying ownership of a Samba TV and providing viewership data. End consumers can also earn tokens by providing zero-party data from other streaming, social, and e-commerce platforms. This data can be used to inform product development and marketing efforts, as well as to better understand the needs and preferences of users. End consumers can also earn tokens by allowing their data to be shared with selected advertisers.
For OEMs:
Our product allows TV OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers) to receive a share of revenue for TV viewership data and receive more granular data on who uses their TVs and how.
For Advertisers/Data Purchasers
Our product helps advertisers and data purchasers by providing access to more granular and accurate user data, access to more integrated data from multiple sources, better behavioral tracking and attribution, and the ability to reach customers with more relevant and useful ads.
What was the approach?
As the product designer joining the project a few months later, my primary responsibilities included refining the user interface, enhancing user experience, and aligning the design with our brand guidelines and our project goals.
Research:
- Read through extensive documentation that the former product manager and former designer had created
- Analyzed competitors and existing platforms to identify successful features and potential pitfalls
- Collaborated with the development team to understand technical constraints and possibilities
Visual Design and Prototyping:
- Established a clean and user-friendly design language to instill confidence and ease of use
- Cleaned up the color palette and imagery to fit within our brand guidelines without compromising the app's modern aesthetic
- Developed interactive prototypes for usability testing, incorporating user feedback to refine the design
- Created motion graphics and Lottie animations to elevate design environment and create a dynamic experience
Testing and Iteration:
- Conducted usability tests at various stages to gather feedback on the app's functionality and user interface.
- Iteratively refined the design based on user feedback, ensuring that the app met the needs and expectations of its target audience.
What is
Timba Vision
?
Timba Vision is a platform that incentivizes users to share their data, gives them adequate value for it, and creates better viewership experiences for them. It is a blockchain-enabled D2C app that rewards users for opting-in to share their TV viewership, streaming history, and other personal data with advertisers and brands. Building from an advantage of nearly 100 million TVs enabled with Samba TV ACR technology, users have the ability to link their TV and streaming services to their account in our app. This enables them to set data sharing preferences for how their data is utilized and who can purchase it, as well as accrue and redeem rewards for sharing their data.
What are some the problems that users faced prior to designing this new experience for them?
Users have privacy concerns
- 70% of Americans believe users should be paid when a company sells their data
- They are tired of being creepily tracked and targeted without controls
- The Adtech and Data Brokerage industry collects vast amounts of data in non-transparent ways
- High-profile customer data breaches are too frequent
Data is Monopolized
- Tech monopolies hoard massive datasets and make IDs more obscure
- Privacy browsers and and ad blockers are growing on desktop and mobile devices
- Right-to-be forgotten is now the law in Europe (GDPR) and becoming global (eg CPRA)
- Businesses demand more accurate, deeper, cross-platform data to understand marketing ROI
Data is Fragmented
- Consumer attention is divided amongst an increasing number of screens, platforms, each with their own data + ID that does not match
- Big tech platforms do NOT combine their data leading to a few big silos of data and many little slices that don’t complete the picture even if combined
- No single ID for media consumption exists, allowing the biggest data controllers to extend their monopolies
- Smaller media companies are losing share of ad budgets because they cannot deliver scale in audience or performance
- 3rd party measurement firms buy user data to bridge these gaps but these panels are very small
Regulatory trends will mandate a user-centric, opt-in solution for advertising and user data
- Consumers now enjoy statutory rights to access and delete their data from any major platform
- This will lead to data management solutions to empower users and a zero-party data marketplace
- Blockchain creates infrastructure that enables complex, decentralized marketplaces to thrive
- Data will prove to be the most valuable asset consumers control that a massive industry in media and tech will gladly pay for to achieve holistic understanding
How did we solve our customers' unique challenges?
We enabled a user centric, stakeholder interest-aligned approach to fundamentally focus on the needs and interests of users.
- Users are fairly compensated in full control of their data, and are exposed to more relevant, useful, and delightful ads due to the data they provide
- Advertisers and brands have access to more detailed information on their customers and are enabled to better understand and serve their customers
- OEMs receive more (due to additional opt ins and data coverage) compensation for providing viewership data and are enabled to deliver a better experience for their users
- Ad networks do not extract the majority of value as profit, can provide higher ROI solutions to their clients to drive greater volume, and are disincentivized from engaging in predatory advertising tactics
For End-Consumer Users:
End consumers can earn tokens on our platform by verifying ownership of a Samba TV and providing viewership data. End consumers can also earn tokens by providing zero-party data from other streaming, social, and e-commerce platforms. This data can be used to inform product development and marketing efforts, as well as to better understand the needs and preferences of users. End consumers can also earn tokens by allowing their data to be shared with selected advertisers.
For OEMs:
Our product allows TV OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers) to receive a share of revenue for TV viewership data and receive more granular data on who uses their TVs and how.
For Advertisers/Data Purchasers
Our product helps advertisers and data purchasers by providing access to more granular and accurate user data, access to more integrated data from multiple sources, better behavioral tracking and attribution, and the ability to reach customers with more relevant and useful ads.
What role did I play in the design, development, and success of this project?
As the product designer joining the project a few months later, my primary responsibilities included refining the user interface, enhancing user experience, and aligning the design with our brand guidelines and our project goals.
Research:
- Read through extensive documentation that the former product manager and former designer had created
- Analyzed competitors and existing platforms to identify successful features and potential pitfalls
- Collaborated with the development team to understand technical constraints and possibilities
Visual Design and Prototyping:
- Established a clean and user-friendly design language to instill confidence and ease of use
- Cleaned up the color palette and imagery to fit within our brand guidelines without compromising the app's modern aesthetic
- Developed interactive prototypes for usability testing, incorporating user feedback to refine the design
- Created motion graphics and Lottie animations to elevate design environment and create a dynamic experience
Testing and Iteration:
- Conducted usability tests at various stages to gather feedback on the app's functionality and user interface.
- Iteratively refined the design based on user feedback, ensuring that the app met the needs and expectations of its target audience.
No Results
This product is still in its alpha stage with formal testing taking place internally.
Results
While this product is still being tested, here are our core assumptions:
- Users will be receptive to the idea of being compensated for their data
- We will be able to increase the value of data by making it opt in, more accurate, and cross platform
- Regulatory trends will continue to force companies to give users more control and benefit from their data
- A data marketplace infrastructure that creates long term interest alignment between data providers/collectors, data purchasers and advertisers, and end customers will be winner-take-all
- Users will be more receptive to ads if they are given more control over what they see
- Only a handful of widely used, broad use case blockchains will survive in the mid-to-long term - 99% of Layer 1s will fail
- Every ad platform, channel, and tactic that doesn't create long term alignment between users and advertisers will eventually succumb to the banner ad effect/will enter into a race to the bottom death spiral over the long term
