Netflix Adding TikTok Style Feature Aimed at Children

Netflix will begin attempting to claim childrens' attention with a new TikTok-like feature called "Kids Clips" in its mobile app. iOS developer Steve Moser discovered the feature in hidden code and Bloomberg News has since confirmed its existence with Netflix. Kids Clips offer short video taken from Netflix's current catalog of kids' television shows and films. Netflix will add new clips on a daily basis. The goal for Netflix is two-fold. One of those goals is to better reach younger viewers who spend more time on sites like TikTok and YouTube than they spend watching traditional media, creating shorter bites of content they can consume in much the same way.

The other is to create a new means by which they can expose younger viewers to content they might otherwise enjoy but never encounter in the Netflix app. In this way, it's similar to Netflix's top 10 charts, which now gives users a glimpse at which shows and films are proving most popular on the streaming service.

Netflix says the Kids Clips feature is only a test, for now. It's built on the same technology the company used to launch the "Fast Laughs" feature earlier this year, offering quick clips from Netflix's library of comedy content.

According to Bloomberg, the Kids Clips feed will function similar to Fast Laughs with a few key differences. The videos will play in horizontal view, instead o the vertical view used by Fast Laughs, and in full screen. Also, kids will only have access to between 10 and 20 clips at any given time.

The Kids Clips feature will start rolling out this week in the United States, Canada, Australia, Ireland, and Spanish-speaking countries in Latin America. Presumably, its popularity during this testing phase will determine whether it gets a fuller push from the company.

The contest for kids' eyeballs is a major front in the streaming wars and one in which Netflix has a distinct disadvantage. The streaming giant's competitors like. Disney+, Paramount+, and HBO Max each have iconic chidren's characters like Mickey Mouse, Peppa Pig, and the Sesame Street at their disposal. Lacking that, Netflix has turned towards internet content like CocoMelon to shore up its kids' library. Kids Clips seems to be taking that strategy one step further.

What do you think of Netflix launching its new Kids Clips short video feature? Let us know how you feel about it in the comments section.