Netflix's mobile users are growing, but how often are you really going to watch a full movie on your phone? To cater to its growing number of smartphone users, Netflix announced Thursday that it is adding two to five-minute clips to its queue.
Netflix plans to feature popular scenes from TV shows, movie clips, and stand-up comedy bits from its preexisting catalogue in an attempt to hold the attention span of its mobile users. Users don't always have time to watch a full movie on their phone, especially when texts and calls are coming in. Also, some users may also be watching their data usage and may not want to watch a two-hour movie if they aren't on WiFi.
"As screen sizes are becoming bigger, watching content on phones becomes more natural," says design manager Dantley Davis. Increasing smartphone screen size has made the app more popular, but Netflix is still used most often on TV screens. Netflix decided to include shorter snippets of content after finding that 87 percent of mobile viewing lasted shorter than ten minutes. At the time, none of its content was that short.
The new content is aimed for a better mobile experience and won't feature video blogs or other viral videos. The Netflix app has already been featuring shorter content on some mobile user's apps under the heading "Have five minutes?" The shorter content has had "very positive results" so far.
Earlier this week, Netflix launched a feature that allows users to share and recommend videos to their friends on the app privately. This new feature makes sharing ten minutes clips as opposed to full movies more appealing.
Users will be asked after watching something if they want to share with friends. Users can then search through friends by linking with Facebook, but the social media site will not publicly share the message. Friends will see the recommendation when they sign into their account and can choose whether to watch it or add it to their list.
Netflix plans to relaunch its mobile app in the near future.
