In February 2024 it was announced that NBC News would deliver a new subscription product to users by the end of the year. While the subscription would be available to users on both web and apps. a heavier emphasis on apps was placed where new features and content types would be added to ensure we were delivering value to users.
These new features and content types were:
In addition to these new features and content types, we planned on adding several other necessary logistical pieces of functionality into the app as well to tie the experience together.
These other pieces of new or updated functionality were:
I worked on the designs for the subscription on apps from Feb – July 2025. In August it was announced that the NBCUniversal team I worked on would be spun off to the newly created Versant Media and that I would shift my focus entirely to CNBC.
While my work ended in July, due to shifting product requirements the design still continued up until release in December 2025 and thusly the production release of the subscription may look materially different from the designs I had produced.
As a part of adding the new subscription and all of its features, we also wanted to revamp the existing new user onboarding experience for when a user first downloads and installs the app.
Due to this being the NBC News' app first subscription offering, we need to create a paywall to inform the user of what's available in the subscription as well as annual and monthly options to subscribe and also include a way for users to sign in to an existing account or create a new one.
As a part of the process to onboard a user into the new NBC News subscription, we wanted users to select their interests in terms of shows and topics they want to keep up with.
While this would have very little effect on the experience starting out, we were planning on using this information to build a more personalized experience later on.
The news tab is the place in which the story of the day is truly told.
This tab acts a hub for all the days stories and breaking news in the form of editorially written articles.
With the subscription the news tab doesn't change much - the greatest change users will see between being not being subscribed or being subscribed are the inclusion or exclusion of ads, which also applies to the articles themselves.
The watch tab is the home for all live streams available in the NBC News app.
Here users can primarily find the NBC News Now livestream at the top with further FAST livestream options to select beneath.
This ranges from locally available regional NBC News channels, such as NBC News 4 New York, to nationally available channels such as NBC News Sports and Noticias Telemundo Ahora.
If the user has granted location access, the closest available NBC News channel will be surfaced to them first.
Here users can also find free VOD clips of shows and segments available to them and if they are subscribed, they will also be able to find ad free full length episodes of Meet the Press, Nightly News, Dateline, and Today.
The briefings tab is a net new tab primarily for subscribers only.
This tab will show users live and past Q&A events with journalists and of course also be home to all of the daily and past briefings that have occurred.
The listen tab has been updated to not only serve as the home to find live audio streams of NBC News Now, Dateline, and Today, but will also serve as the hub in which users can discover and play NBC News podcasts, which is a net new addition to the app.
The settings page has also needed to be altered slightly to handle the new subscription as well.
Sections for subscription upselling and information, profile/account management, and newsletter management are all new and necessary.
Due to app store requirements, we also needed to include a way for users to not only cancel their subscription, but delete their accounts as well.
While the NBC News subscription launched in December 2025, I ended my work and contributions to it in August 2025 due to the spin off of CNBC of NBC Universal to Versant.
Some of the decisions we had made had been reconsidered due to changing product requirements after I left so the final shipped product looks a little different than my designs here.
