Even though this feature does encourage the TikTok-ification of television and film, something that this TV writer isn’t too thrilled about, it’s not wholly a bad thing. Moments might encourage word-of-mouth marketing of movies and TV shows, something that can often mean the difference between cancellation and survival for Netflix originals.
This kind of feature actually isn’t all that new of a concept either. Twitch has had a similar clip feature since 2016 that lets users save moments from live streams that they want to revisit later and share them with their friends. This might be the first time we’ve seen something like this implemented for scripted content, but the technology to do so isn’t entirely new. However, one major difference is that sharing Moments via social media or through other means will simply reroute someone back to that timestamp on Netflix, rather than sharing the clip outright.
The fact that it’s taken Netflix this long to get back on board with screengrabs in any form is a bit of a surprise, given that it’s essentially free marketing of their content. People have been finding ways around their black screen blocks for years, so this fight has felt almost futile on their part. It’s hard to scroll Instagram Reels or TikTok for more than a few minutes without coming across an account (or several) that’s nothing but movie and TV clips, trying to get people interested in watching whatever they’re posting about. It seems like Netflix hopes that this new feature will encourage people to go right to Netflix instead.
While Netflix Moments doesn’t seem to give users the option to edit or fully share the clips they save as of yet, nor the ability to use this feature in a web browser, Netflix’s press release notes that it hopes to expand upon Moments in the future. If this feature is popular, it’s probably only a matter of time before Netflix gives us a way to make TikToks right in the app.