Netflix to Introduce Mobile Previews With Vertical Video

Netflix has announced that it will introduce mobile previews for its content by using a vertical video format.

Todd Yellin, Netflix’s Vice President of Product, revealed the plan at a recent press event. Essentially, subscribers will now have the option to see a 30-second preview/trailer for various movies and TV shows through the Netflix app, as reported by Variety.

The previews are available on the home screen of the app above all of the content threads. They’re arraigned into small circles and when you tap on one the preview opens up.

Once you are done a preview, you can swipe over to see another one.

Netflix has had some very mixed receptions in the press lately, as their CEO Reed Hastings came under fire recently over his stance on “inclusion riders.”

“We’re not so big on doing everything through agreements,” Hastings said a press meeting. “We’re trying to do things creatively.” USA Today reports that Hastings prefers his staff to work directly with the filmmakers to make sure that productions are all-inclusive and diverse.

“That’s how we look at it,” he added.

Explaining more in-depth what it is, comedian Whitney Cummings previously tweeted, “An inclusion rider is something actors put into their contracts to ensure gender and racial equality in hiring on movies sets. We should support this for a billion reasons, but if you can’t find a reason to, here’s one: it will make movies better.”

Many have been very frustrated with Hastings attitude toward inclusion riders, seeming to perceive his comments as flippant, with one person tweeting, “Dont make me cancel you.”

“Say it ain’t so Netflix… you all need to get in front of this this is going to look really really bad… diversity don’t hurt it helps,” another wrote.”

“Coming from a company with those percentages of mostly white men in positions of power I can understand why [Reed Hastings] said what he did,” someone else quipped.

Taking an opportunity to challenge Hastings on his approach to diversity, one Twitter user responded, “There are a load of reasons why informal discussions could be ineffective in changing the diversity of casting. [Reed Hastings] – if you don’t think inclusion riders are the right answer, you need to come up with something better and *put it in writing*.”

The concept of an inclusion rider became widely talked about after Frances McDormand mentioned it in her Best Actress award acceptance speech at the 2018 Oscars.

“Okay, look around ladies and gentlemen, because we all have stories to tell and projects we need financed. Don’t talk to us about it at the parties tonight; invite us into your office in a couple days or you can come to ours, whichever suits you best. And we’ll tell you all about them,” she said while accepting the Oscar for her role in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. “I have two words to leave with you tonight ladies and gentlemen: inclusion rider.”