You’ve heard of Instagram Reels — now get ready for Netflix Clips.
Netflix is redesigning its mobile app and introducing Clips, a vertical video feed intended to help users discover new content by sharing highlights from original Netflix programming.
“Think of ‘Clips’ as a personalized highlight reel that helps you decide what to watch or play next, without endless scrolling,” Netflix wrote in a press release. “You’ll see short clips from series, films and specials tailored to your tastes, with an easy way to go deeper when something grabs your attention.”
The idea is that if you’re on the go, you likely aren’t going to pull out your phone to watch the next three minutes of the “Love is Blind” episode you’re on. But you might watch a short, curated clip of another Netflix show for a fast laugh (which is exactly what Netflix named a similar feature, Fast Laughs, in 2021).
We may have rolled our eyes five years ago when every social media platform rushed to release a TikTok copycat feature, but now, even LinkedIn is pushing vertical video on its mobile app. It’s safe to say that vertical video is here to stay.
Netflix, for its part, has experimented for years with how to incorporate short-form video, and the company seems to have settled on Clips.
It’s not just TikTok-like social feeds where vertical video is taking over. The microdrama industry –bite-sized episodic series, typically under 10 minutes per episode, designed to be watched on a phone screen — which first caught on in Asia, is building momentum in the U.S., making users more accustomed to watching serialized stories on vertical feeds.
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Other streamers like Peacock and Tubi are also adding vertical video experiences on mobile.
At TechCrunch Disrupt last October, Netflix Chief Product and Technology Officer Elizabeth Stone talked about Netflix’s experimentation with vertical video but said that Netflix isn’t trying to compete with TikTok.
“[Netflix] is not intending to copy or chase exactly what a TikTok or others are doing because we think that there’s a certain type of entertainment — or moment of truth — that’s especially valuable to our members, and we really want to be focused there, versus trying to be all things at every moment, which I don’t think needs to be a core part of the strategy,” Stone said at the time.
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Amanda Silberling is a senior writer at TechCrunch covering the intersection of technology and culture. She has also written for publications like Polygon, MTV, the Kenyon Review, NPR, and Business Insider. She is the co-host of Wow If True, a podcast about internet culture, with science fiction author Isabel J. Kim. Prior to joining TechCrunch, she worked as a grassroots organizer, museum educator, and film festival coordinator. She holds a B.A. in English from the University of Pennsylvania and served as a Princeton in Asia Fellow in Laos.
You can contact or verify outreach from Amanda by emailing amanda@techcrunch.com or via encrypted message at @amanda.100 on Signal.
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