boomerang.com
Boomerang is a children's cartoon television channel that you can find Tom and Jerry, Scooby-Doo, The Flintstones, and more on there. The television channel is now also hosted online by the streaming service VRV.
You can watch all of your favorite old cartoons on Boomerang! There are a lot of titles and episodes available, so you're sure to find something you'll love. Boomerang does an amazing job of keeping viewers happy.
In 2016, VRV was created as a streaming platform that pulls together channels for fans of anime, animations, sci-fi, comics, tech, and other genres. Over the years, VRV has hosted a number of popular channels. Some of the channels that have since left the company are Shudder, Nerdist, Geek & Sundry, and Funimation.
Website Design
The website design that is found on VRV is a large streaming service that offers multiple channels to subscribers. Some of the channels that can be found on VRV include NickSplat, Crunchyroll, Cartoon Hangover, Hidive, Mondo, Rooster Teeth, and VRV Select.
The idea of a parent streaming company offering channels seems pleasant to me. However, VRV is not what I would call a good parent. The website feels very clunky. Featured shows are boxed and not organized well.
Apart from the appearance of the website, the navigation is confusing. One of the more important qualities of streaming services is navigation. Viewers don't want to spend time trying to figure out how to find the libraries. Personally, I want to be able to get to the library as quickly as possible so that I can browse titles.
When it comes to navigating channels on VRV, it is simple but frustrating nonetheless. A dropdown menu allows users to change channels. The only thoughtful design is corresponding specific channels to colors. For example, NickSplat is orange and Boomerang is the signature blue color the channel has always used. Otherwise, there is nothing special about the design.
Content
The Boomerang channel is a great place to find content. There are a lot of shows to choose from, as well as movies and series. They have a great selection of episodes and items.
Free members have access to a variety of content from Boomerang, including older titles like Yogi Bear and The Jetsons, as well as content from Cartoon Network. Shows like Code Name: Kids Next Door and Courage the Cowardly Dog are available on the channel as well.
Desktop & Mobile Accessibility
The streaming service from the desktop browser is not pleasant. The poor design is off-putting and frustrating. The positives are that the videos do not lag and the sound quality is okay. The navigation gets confusing. Ultimately, I would say the website is somewhere in the middle on a scale of good and bad. If it came down to content alone, I would say the Boomerang channel is phenomenal.
The mobile browser is really annoying to use. The parent company VRV's home page is a large ad asking for viewers to create an account. Instead of creating my account there, I downloaded the app instead.
The mobile app to watch Boomerang is named VRV after the parent streaming company. First thoughts on the application are that it is pleasant. Creating an account is painless and almost fun. There is a feature to shake the phone and receive random username suggestions. After selecting a name you can choose an interesting icon for your profile. The overall app was also underwhelming. The functions were similar to the desktop and again, not very user-friendly.
Positives
The web site?s navigation and lack of character are frustrating, but there are some pretty positive things about it too. Most of the issues lie within the parent company, VRV, and not Boomerang itself. The Boomerang channel is one of the best channels the streaming service offers.
There are a lot of great shows available to VRV premium users for only $4.99 per month. And for $9.99 per month, those users get access to all of VRV's channels! At first, the price might seem a bit high, but you really get a lot of great shows and channels in that price range.
The names of the titles are amazing. There are a ton of unique shows that you can only find on Boomerang. Some old cartoons like The Smurfs, Carebears, Looney Tunes, and Tom and Jerry are among some of the most recognizable. Apart from Boomerang cartoons, there are Cartoon Network shows available, too.
Finally, one of the most positive things about the Boomerang channel is the amount of free content included. There are a few shows that allow users without premium memberships to watch the first few episodes. There are also many movies available for free.
Negatives
There are a few issues with the Boomerang channel. Some of the issues are with the parent streaming service, VRV. Being its own streaming service instead of being hosted on a platform would solve most of the problems.
I find VRV's design and layout to be unpleasant. The overall viewer experience is not pleasant, and the design is gray-scale in a very bad way. The website does not utilize proper shades of gray to create interesting depths, and the color scheme makes it difficult to read.
The website's flow is difficult to follow. There is no clear pattern to direct viewers' eyes. The categories are all mixed together without any design sense. There is no specific genre, category, or subcategory that stands out. For a channel with as many shows as Boomerang has, I wish the categories were more distinct.
Many streaming websites rely on an organization to help people find what they're looking for. Sites like Netflix, Hulu, and Disney+ are some of the biggest names in this field and know that having an organized list of channels is important to users. If VRV and the Boomerang channel were to redesign their sorting feature, it might make it easier for viewers to find what they're looking for.
Improvements Needed
There are a few improvements that the Boomerang channel could make to further enhance their user experiences. Most of the changes would be to the parenting streaming platform, VRV.
Boomerang could easily charge the small channel fee if they took all of their inventory and moved it to a more flavorful environment. The experience could even include games featuring characters from the cartoons similar to the ones we saw floating around the web in the early 2000s.
If staying with VRV is the only way for Boomerang to keep streaming its library, then forcing the company to rethink its organization system would be useful for all channels. Adding a more visually appealing category system would be best for user experience.
Summary
The Boomerang channel on VRV is a great way to watch some feel-good oldies. There are cartoons containing titles from the time Boomerang first started airing to some of Cartoon Network's newer (2000s era) shows. The Boomerang experience is unique, and it delivers a great viewing experience to viewers.
The navigation and website design are frustrating, but the extensive library more than makes up for it. The user experience is not very pleasant. The website's organizational system needs a lot of work, too.
Ultimately, for the price, the subscription is worth it. For only $4.99 per month, you get an amazing number of titles to choose from. Titles of movies you forgot existed will jolt you with nostalgia, and convince you to waste several hours binge-watching.