JetBlue is upgrading its seat-back entertainment system with more personalized content recommendations and enhanced streaming features for its passengers.
The upgrades are part of a new feature suite that the carrier is calling “Blueprint by JetBlue,” which aims to offer more personalized content recommendations and keep passengers engaged on their current and future flights.
One of the unique features launching on JetBlue flights is a watch party function that allows passengers to stream select content with up to five other travelers on the same flight. It is the first time any domestic passenger carrier has offered a watch party through an in-flight entertainment system, JetBlue said in a statement.
Other features include the ability to save TV shows and movies to a personal watch list that will carry across flights, which aims to take the guesswork out of finding things to watch when passengers travel on JetBlue, and the ability to pause a show or movie during a flight and pick up in the same spot on future flights.
Blueprint by JetBlue will also deliver personalized content recommendations based on a traveler’s prior viewing, including content that is served up from Comcast’s streaming service Peacock, which is exclusive to JetBlue’s in-flight entertainment system.
“JetBlue has always been an innovator as the first to have seatback screens and fast, free and unlimited Wi-Fi on every aircraft,” Jayne O’Brien, the head of marketing and customer support at JetBlue, said in a statement. “By launching Blueprint by JetBlue, we are doubling down on our commitment to help customers create an inflight experience tailored to their needs and preferences, making their flight as comfortable as their own living rooms.”
Over the past two years, a number of research and marketing firms have released studies that show streaming video consumers feel they spend too much time looking for something to watch across streaming services.
A study released by Google Cloud last November showed 41 percent of viewers don’t know what they’ll watch on TV and expect to find a movie or TV show to watch when they start browsing across recommended titles. Of those surveyed, 81 percent said they’ve come to expect that streaming platforms and services will deliver “highly personalized experiences” — and half of viewers surveyed said streaming services generally don’t offer the kind of personalized recommendations they’ve come to expect.
Blueprint by JetBlue seems to address many of those pain points in a way that could lead to higher customer loyalty at a time when competition across low-cost budget airlines is strong.
