Netflix wants you to watch “Clips,” a vertical video feed similar to TikTok

You’ve heard about Instagram Reels — now get ready Netflix clips.

Netflix is ​​redesigning its mobile app and introducing Clips, a vertical video feed aimed at helping users discover new content by sharing highlights from Netflix original programming.

“Think of ‘Clips’ as a personalized highlight that helps you decide what you want to watch or play next, without endless scrolling,” Netflix wrote in a press release. “You’ll see short clips from series, movies and specials tailored to your tastes, with an easy way to dig deeper when something catches your eye.”

The idea is that if you’re traveling, you probably won’t be pulling out your phone to watch the next three minutes of the episode of “Love is Blind” you’re watching. But you might watch a short, curated clip of another show on Netflix to get a quick laugh (which is exactly what Netflix called a similar feature, Quick laughsin 2021).

It may have caught our attention five years ago when every social media platform rushed to launch a TikTok copycat feature, but now, even LinkedIn is rolling out vertical video on its mobile app. It’s safe to say that vertical video is here to stay.

For its part, Netflix has been experimenting for years with how to integrate short-form video, and the company appears to have settled on Clips.

It’s not just social feeds similar to TikTok where vertical video is taking over. the Small drama industry — bite-sized series, typically less than 10 minutes per episode, designed for viewing on a phone screen — which first took off in Asia, are building momentum in the U.S., making users more accustomed to watching serialized stories on vertical feeds.

Other banners such as peacock and tubes They are also adding vertical video experiences on mobile.

At the TechCrunch Disrupt event last October, she met Elizabeth Stone, Netflix’s director of product and technology You talked about Netflix’s experiment with vertical video But he said Netflix isn’t trying to compete with TikTok.

“(Netflix) doesn’t intend to copy or chase exactly what TikTok or others are doing because we believe there’s a certain type of entertainment — or moment of truth — that’s particularly valuable to our members, and we really want to focus there, versus trying to be everything in every moment, which I don’t think should be a core part of the strategy,” Stone said at the time.