Netflix is leaning into snack-sized content as it seeks to claw viewing time from YouTube
The streaming giant is bringing more short videos to its app as part of licensing deals with major publishers, including BuzzFeed Studios, Condé Nast, Hearst Magazines, Penske Media, and People Inc., Netflix said Tuesday. Starting in early August, subscribers can watch videos ranging from 3 to 20 minutes from brands like Bon Appétit, Cosmopolitan, The Hollywood Reporter, Variety, and Vogue. The videos center on topics like travel, cooking, and fashion
Netflix has been investing in video podcasts and short-form vertical video to better compete with YouTube, which has been rapidly growing its share of TV viewership in recent years. YouTube had a 13.4% share of US TV viewing in April 2026, versus Netflix’s 7.8%, per Nielsen
Netflix’s new licensing deals are “straight out of the YouTube handbook,” said Brandon Katz, the insights director at entertainment research firm Greenlight Analytics
“It’s another attempt to court low-cost engagement with lean-back pop culture programming,” Katz said. He added that “Netflix is trying to become a more habitualhit-or-miss original programming.”
Other Hollywood streamers have been leaning into short-form clips over the last year, in hopes of driving higher engagement and training users to open their apps throughout the day, rather than just at night
“These partnerships help us deepen fandom and create more ways for members to carry those stories with them throughout their day,” John Derderian, the VP of Animation Series and Kids & Family TV, said in a statement about the deal
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Short-form video isn’t new for Netflix. The streaming leader first experimented with vertical clips in 2021 with a “Fast Laughs” feature that showed snippets from comedy shows. Netflix shuttered the feed a few years later, before adding short-form video again earlier this year. The streamer has also had videos of less than four minutes as part of its “WWE Legend Profiles” series
Netflix has been looking to speed up the addition of YouTube content to its platform by offering publishers more relaxed licensing terms, according to two people who’ve had direct conversations with the streamer in recent months
During its initial push to add podcasts in 2025, Netflix insisted that podcasters pull their video shows off YouTube. That would be a tough ask for some creators and publishers who’ve built big businesses on YouTube. (It did some early deals with creators like Ms. Rachel that didn’t have that requirement.)
Now, Netflix is regularly talking about licensing shows and podcasts without requiring them to leave YouTube, the two people said
“It’s a real change,” one person involved in the discussions said
However, podcasters and other creators will still have to consider whether being available on Netflix will cannibalize their YouTube audience — and if the licensing fee Netflix pays will make up for it
