The funny thing about smartphone addiction is that it makes low-effort tasks feel totally productive. When I finally quit doomscrolling through Instagram and TikTok to watch an actual movie or TV show, I feel like I’ve just spent the afternoon studying physics. Platforms like Netflix, which could once be seen as time-wasting entertainment, now seem like antidotes to endless, useless scrolling.
But Netflix doesn’t seem to appreciate its new role. Instead, the company apparently sees short-form video apps—and smartphones themselves—as a direct threat to its business, and is jumping on the bandwagon. It’s not only that Netflix is reportedly now making content with phone scrollers in mind, encouraging creators to craft dialogue that makes their shows and movies easy to understand even if you’re not actually paying attention; Netflix also wants to position its mobile app as an actual competitor to TikTok and Instagram by introducing a short-form video feed directly within the app.
Netflix’s take on TikTok
The company officially introduced its plans for short-form video during its fourth-quarter earnings call back in January. Then, on Thursday, the company confirmed its plans to introduce the vertical video feed in its redesigned mobile apps by the end of this month. This isn’t totally new, as the company has been experimenting with vertical video feeds since May, but we’re about to see Netflix’s official take on this type of video for the first time.
Unlike TikTok, Instagram, or YouTube, you won’t hop on the Netflix app to find short-form videos from independent creators. Instead, Netflix will serve users clips from Netflix-distributed shows and movies in a scrollable TikTok-style feed. You might swipe through this feed and see clips from Stranger Things, Emily in Paris, or Bridgerton. Many of us already waste our time watching clips from shows and movies on other platforms—often cropped, slowed down or sped up, in low-quality, and besieged by artifacts meant to throw off copyright claims. Netflix obviously won’t need to do this, so I expect the experience will be filled with high-quality videos (depending on how you define “quality” of course).
It won’t just be TV shows and movies on the feed. Netflix also has big plans for its video podcasts, which are growing, following deals with Spotify and iHeartMedia to bring existing podcasts to its platform. Expect Netflix to sprinkle clips from these video podcasts into the short-form feed to create an experience that sounds not too far off from scrolling through other apps.
What do you think so far?
The thing is, we were really close to potentially seeing a lot of content on this vertical feed, and Netflix’s platform in general. Had Netflix acquired Warner Bros., I wouldn’t have been surprised to see clips from HBO shows like A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, The White Lotus, and Euphoria. Now that the company has backed off on its acquisition plans, the list of potential properties that could be turned into vertical videos has shrunk.
Catering to the short attention span
I get the move from a business perspective: Netflix is likely losing subscribers’ attention due to the addictive nature of vertical video apps. But do any of us really need another app to scroll through, especially when we’re already paying for access to the full content to begin with? Maybe could be a helpful avenue to find new shows and movies to watch, but in all likelihood, it will just be be another addictive time-waster. I have too many of those in my life as it is.
