GCTV
iOS, Android, desktop, mobile web. Concurrent live streams, Longines integration, sign-up rebuild, and video player, in five months.
What I Built
Complexities
The Outcome
Reflection
The Global Champions Tour is one of the most prestigious equestrian series in the world. GCTV is its streaming platform, think equestrian Netflix, built for fans, gamblers, and followers of the sport worldwide.
The platform had a fundamental problem: it wasn't built for how equestrian sport actually works. Multiple races happen simultaneously. The app had no way to show this. Users were missing events, losing context, and churning. On top of this, the sign-up flow was broken, in-app purchases were non-compliant with Apple guidelines, the video player was outdated, and search was barely functional.
Concurrent live streams: I redesigned the homepage to surface multiple simultaneous events clearly, distinct live and non-live states, a carousel that communicated what was happening now versus upcoming, without overwhelming users who just wanted one thing.
Longines branded stories: an elegant, native-feeling sponsorship integration embedded in the homescreen carousel using existing playlist infrastructure, contextual, not intrusive.
Sign-up and subscription flow: rebuilt from a login-only state, new splash screens, native form patterns, proper error handling, and Apple-compliant in-app purchase screens with restore purchase and T&C requirements.
Video player and search: redesigned for a new SDK, optimised search states, improved thumbnail sizing and title treatment. All delivered across iOS, Android, desktop, and mobile web.
The concurrent streams problem was the most interesting challenge. The naive solution — show all streams at once, creates cognitive overload and ignores why different people come to the app. A gambler tracking specific riders needs different information hierarchy than a casual fan who wants to watch something live.
I designed around user intent: a dominant primary stream with a compact, clearly accessible secondary surface. The live/non-live state system meant users could immediately understand what was on now versus scheduled. It became a content system, not just a layout.
GCTV shipped and remains live. The platform now handles concurrent live events across all four platforms with a coherent content system. The Longines integration delivered branded presence without disrupting the viewing experience. The sign-up rebuild resolved Apple compliance issues and created a flow that converts.
Five months, four platforms, twelve deliverables, all shipped.
GCTV was a lesson in cross-platform discipline. Designing the same interaction across four platforms forces a rigour that single-platform work doesn't. You can't rely on conventions doing the work, you have to design the logic first, then adapt the expression. The concurrent streams solution is the piece I come back to most when thinking about design as systems thinking.