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Netflix has announced that it is partnering with a host of digital publishers in a quest to bring “fan-favorite” videos to various regions, including the U.S. and the U.K. These short-form videos will be between three and 20 minutes long, and include popular series like BuzzFeed Celeb’s 30 Questions, Vanity Fair’s Lie Detector, Billboard’s 24 Hrs With, and Tastemade’s Struggle Meals.
The streamer’s latest move comes after it has already tested adding live events, mobile clips, and even video podcasts like The Puzzle Room With David Kwong and The Rewatchables. Though industry insiders have branded Netflix’s video podcasts “low engagement,” around 13% of households are thought to have given them a whirl for a minimum of one minute on their smart TVs over a three-month tracking period by Samba TV.
Yet, adding more short-form videos unfortunately speaks to the dwindling popularity of Netflix’s old-school “binge model,” which is fading fast as more viewers struggle to commit and feel their free time is at a premium. Netflix seems to be hoping that its experiment with shorter videos will at least help keep people on the platform longer after they’ve finished watching its new releases.
“Members don’t just want to watch a show or film and move on – they want to keep exploring the stories and personalities they love long after the final credits roll,” John Derderian, Vice President of Netflix’s Animation Series and Kids and Family TV division, said in a statement. “These partnerships help us deepen fandom and create more ways for members to carry those stories with them throughout their day.”
It’s an interesting step for Netflix because the streamer is no longer just competing with similar subscription services, such as Prime Video or Apple TV, but also short-form video platforms like TikTok and YouTube. Many people are just as likely to spend hours scrolling through videos there as they are to watch a show or movie, and Netflix now appears interested in grabbing a share of that doomscrolling audience. In an age where audiences will willingly watch two minutes of a random episode of The Rookie on TikTok, then switch to the latest Italian Bach video on YouTube rather than commit to a new TV show with a questionable future, embracing some new short-form video content isn’t necessarily a bad shout.
YouTube remains one of the biggest platforms on the internet. In the U.K., 94% of online adults used YouTube last year, and in January 2025 alone, its ads reached around 2.53 billion users worldwide. For those willing to watch those ads, YouTube was absolutely free to use. In contrast, Netflix just raised its subscription prices for the second time in just over a year. Given comparisons like that, it’s hard to imagine how Netflix could realistically compete with YouTube.
Still, it’s possible that if viewers were already on the platform and saw their favorite YouTube series readily available to watch, they might dwell there rather than switching apps. We can safely assume that Netflix is banking on it.
The post New Releases Make It Clear Netflix Has YouTube in Its Sights appeared first on Den of Geek.
