Section

Say Hi

Expertise

Case studies

Experience

Say Hi

Protecting $6 Billion worth of sports rights

DAZN is the world's largest Sports Streaming platform with over 200 countries and territories – Europe being their largest market to date.

This case study focuses on the first implementations of 'seamless concurrency' at DAZN. It details the variety of product and organisational problems we overcame and the solutions we created to improve user experience.

Concurrency is a tricky and technical subject, so i've broken the story down into smaller chunks, but be warned - it's a long story!

~7 minute read

Duration

~8 months
(intermittent)

Duration

~8 months
(intermittent)

My role and responsibilities

Principal Product Designer

Stakeholder interviews

Workshops

UX Journeys and flows

UI and Visual Design

Project documentation

Dev-handover process

My role and responsibilities

Principal Product Designer

Stakeholder interviews

Workshops

UX Journeys and flows

UI and Visual Design

Project documentation

Dev-handover process

Team set up

Product Owner,

Principal designer (me)

Lead technical architects

6 Engineering teams

Senior Copywriter

Team set up

Product Owner,

Principal designer (me)

Lead technical architects

6 Engineering teams

Senior Copywriter

What is concurrrency?

'Concurrency' is the number of times you can view content simultaneously, with one account, on different devices.

'Concurrency' is the number of times you can view content simultaneously, with one account, on different devices.

'Concurrency' is the number of times you can view content simultaneously, with one account, on different devices.

'Concurrency' is the number of times you can view content simultaneously, with one account, on different devices.

'Concurrency' is the number of times you can view content simultaneously, with one account, on different devices.

Why is managing concurrency imperative for DAZN?

@netflix twitter accoun; Love is sharing a password tweet from 2017

Does anyone remember
when Netflix said this?

And then…

That didn't age well article headline lamenting twitter

love is sharing a password until it isn't news article headline

'Netflix rediculed' news article headline

And then…

Password sharing isn't love – it's theft and it costs streaming services billions in lost revenue.

~ Losses per annum in EMEA alone

*Source

~ Losses worldwide

Based on conservative estimates from 2022-23 EOY figures, with the assumption that a third of all non-paying users would otherwise be a paying subscriber.

Password sharing isn't love – it's theft and it costs streaming services billions in lost revenue.

~ Losses per annum in EMEA alone

*Source

~ Losses worldwide

Based on conservative estimates from 2022-23 EOY figures, with the assumption that a third of all non-paying users would otherwise be a paying subscriber.

Streaming services have to combat account sharing in order to thrive. But it's complicated…

Concurrency rules

Calculating, time, speed & distances from one device to another is very technical.

How did DAZN approach concurrency?

Rule #1

Up to 5 devices can be
'registered' per account

Rule #1

Up to 5 devices can be
'registered' per account

Rule #2

Only 2 devices can stream
simultaneously per account

Rule #2

Only 2 devices can stream
simultaneously per account

Breach either of these rules and this is the message you would see. But as you can see here it wasn't an easy task to complete - there's approximately 10 steps to complete the task even if you understand the process.

Breaching the rules

Let's not make managing your devices too easy, we want to deter would-be Account-sharers."

Initial thinking from Product and Engineering

Concurrency V1 release story

1st release story

Football fans in Italy and Spain are anticipate an exciting day of LaLiga and Serie A action Live on DAZN.

V1. Concurrency service

if more than 2 devices are detected on same WIFI and IP address

then trigger manage devices error.

We have shared WIFI addresses with our tenancy agreements!

We are not account-sharing, just let us watch the football!

So what happened?

Causes

Volume of traffic

+ Concurrency service

+ Shared WIFI & IP addresses

= False positives

Causes

Volume of traffic

+ Concurrency service

+ Shared WIFI & IP addresses

= False positives

Causes

Volume of traffic

+ Concurrency service

+ Shared WIFI & IP addresses

= False positives

Causes

Volume of traffic

+ Concurrency service

+ Shared WIFI & IP addresses

= False positives

Effects

CS lines jammed

Thousands of unhappy fans

Negative press

Damage to brand reputation

No added security

Compensation payments

Effects

CS lines jammed

Thousands of unhappy fans

Negative press

Damage to brand reputation

No added security

Compensation payments

Effects

CS lines jammed

Thousands of unhappy fans

Negative press

Damage to brand reputation

No added security

Compensation payments

Effects

CS lines jammed

Thousands of unhappy fans

Negative press

Damage to brand reputation

No added security

Compensation payments

But why did this happen?

Location bias - UK Product and Engineering teams were unaware of 'apartment living' use cases in Europe.

In the UK we tend have separate Wifi accounts per house household…

Bias #1

Concurrency was perceived as a 'technical-engineering' problem and not a product design problem.

Breaching concurrency limits was treated like any other system error, using whatever error templates engineers had available.

Bias #2

If you want to go fast, go alone,
If you want to go far, go together."

”

Old African proverb

The pressures of shipping to meet deadlines can make teams become increasingly insular as they seek to meet their deadline.

This collaboration fallacy is not unique to DAZN – 'going it alone' will always inherit more business risk than healthy cross-discipline collaboration.

Bias #3

Anyhow, the route that provides design a seat at the table is irrelevant. It's always still better than no seat…

Get our best UX guys working on this. We need a totally seamless end-to-end concurrency experience."

Sandeep Tikku. DAZN CTO

Starting afresh

V2 kick-off

Give me six hours to chop down a tree, and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe."

Review and renew documentation spaces
+
Create stakeholder list
+
Conduct stakeholder interviews
+
Plan and schedule workshops
+

Review and renew documentation spaces
+
Create stakeholder list
+
Conduct stakeholder interviews
+
Plan and schedule workshops
+

Review and renew documentation spaces
+
Create stakeholder list
+
Conduct stakeholder interviews
+
Plan and schedule workshops
+

Review and renew documentation spaces
+
Create stakeholder list
+
Conduct stakeholder interviews
+
Plan and schedule workshops
+

It may appear slow to begin with – building a shared understanding of a problem space takes time and effort, but in my experience, talking to all stakeholders and documenting their wants, needs, fears and desires is always a good place to start and is always time and effort well spent.

Stakeholder interviews

CS Manager interview highlights

200%↑

“

We anticipate a 2x increase in CS enquiries during any major sporting events."

200%↑

“

We anticipate a 2x increase in CS enquiries during any major sporting events."

200%↑

“

We anticipate a 2x increase in CS enquiries during any major sporting events."

200%↑

“

We anticipate a 2x increase in CS enquiries during any major sporting events."

80%

Of the 200% spike in CS Calls are for lost credentials. Our ageing Sign-up and Sign In flows are not exactly optimal and cause a lot of confusion for customers logging back in."

Not updated since DAZN was a start-up

Poor affordance & accessibility

No Password hinting or criteria

No Single Sign-On

Forgot password flow is confusing

Head of cyber Security interview highlights

65%

“

Of our customer email addresses are unverified. Email verification is not mandatory in the onboarding flows right now.

“

This blunts our ability to detect account-sharing."

65%

“

Of our customer email addresses are unverified. Email verification is not mandatory in the onboarding flows right now.

“

This blunts our ability to detect account-sharing."

65%

“

Of our customer email addresses are unverified. Email verification is not mandatory in the onboarding flows right now.

“

This blunts our ability to detect account-sharing."

65%

“

Of our customer email addresses are unverified. Email verification is not mandatory in the onboarding flows right now.

“

This blunts our ability to detect account-sharing."

65%

“

Of our customer email addresses are unverified. Email verification is not mandatory in the onboarding flows right now.

“

This blunts our ability to detect account-sharing."

2FA…

“

Two-Factor-Authentication has yet to be introduced.

“

As a start-up, DAZN wasn't overly concerned with account sharing.

“

In fact, it was accepted as a viral growth tactic to get the product into as many hands as possible to create desire."

2FA…

“

Two-Factor-Authentication has yet to be introduced.

“

As a start-up, DAZN wasn't overly concerned with account sharing.

“

In fact, it was accepted as a viral growth tactic to get the product into as many hands as possible to create desire."

2FA…

“

Two-Factor-Authentication has yet to be introduced.

“

As a start-up, DAZN wasn't overly concerned with account sharing.

“

In fact, it was accepted as a viral growth tactic to get the product into as many hands as possible to create desire."

2FA…

“

Two-Factor-Authentication has yet to be introduced.

“

As a start-up, DAZN wasn't overly concerned with account sharing.

“

In fact, it was accepted as a viral growth tactic to get the product into as many hands as possible to create desire."

2FA…

“

Two-Factor-Authentication has yet to be introduced.

“

As a start-up, DAZN wasn't overly concerned with account sharing.

“

In fact, it was accepted as a viral growth tactic to get the product into as many hands as possible to create desire."

Lead Back-end Engineer interview highlights

5

10

Latency between service pings is currently at 5-10 mins depending on the device and network.

We want to get this down to seconds, not minutes but this means concurrency is being 'faked' with a 'grace period' of 5+ mins…

You could just sign-out, repeat the process and watch most of the event."

I.P V6

“

Will help massively with detecting account sharing for lots of (good) technical reasons.

“

We just need to do the work to update it.".

I.P V6

“

Will help massively with detecting account sharing for lots of (good) technical reasons.

“

We just need to do the work to update it.".

I.P V6

“

Will help massively with detecting account sharing for lots of (good) technical reasons.

“

We just need to do the work to update it.".

I.P V6

“

Will help massively with detecting account sharing for lots of (good) technical reasons.

“

We just need to do the work to update it.".

I.P V6

“

Will help massively with detecting account sharing for lots of (good) technical reasons.

“

We just need to do the work to update it.".

Head of Product interview highlights

Upsell…

“

Customers can't buy additional device slots, so any sports-mad families are stuck with only two simultaneous devices."

Upsell…

“

Customers can't buy additional device slots, so any sports-mad families are stuck with only two simultaneous devices."

Upsell…

“

Customers can't buy additional device slots, so any sports-mad families are stuck with only two simultaneous devices."

Upsell…

“

Customers can't buy additional device slots, so any sports-mad families are stuck with only two simultaneous devices."

Upsell…

“

Customers can't buy additional device slots, so any sports-mad families are stuck with only two simultaneous devices."

Principal Product designer (me)

UX Audit

Principal Product designer (me)

No Errors

“

Concurrency isn't an error, it is a validation of a designed limitation within the system.

“

What use do customers have for error codes – do we hand them a printed manual with their subscription too?

No Errors

“

Concurrency isn't an error, it is a validation of a designed limitation within the system.

“

What use do customers have for error codes – do we hand them a printed manual with their subscription too?

No Errors

“

Concurrency isn't an error, it is a validation of a designed limitation within the system.

“

What use do customers have for error codes – do we hand them a printed manual with their subscription too?

No Errors

“

Concurrency isn't an error, it is a validation of a designed limitation within the system.

“

What use do customers have for error codes – do we hand them a printed manual with their subscription too?

No Errors

“

Concurrency isn't an error, it is a validation of a designed limitation within the system.

“

What use do customers have for error codes – do we hand them a printed manual with their subscription too?

No Jargon

“

We should avoid any using technical language.

“