Netflix has inked licensing deals with a string of major media publishers as it accelerates its push into short-form video, a space currently dominated by players like YouTube and TikTok. The move is a piece of a larger strategy by the streaming giant to adjust to evolving viewing habits and boost engagement beyond its usual fare of TV shows and movies.
According to a report by AFP, Netflix has signed deals with publishers including Penske Media, BuzzFeed Studios, Condé Nast, Hearst Magazines and People Inc. Under the agreements, Netflix will host a range of short-form programming covering categories such as entertainment, celebrity culture, lifestyle, news and instructional content.
The content is scheduled to begin rolling out on August 3 across select markets, including the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. Programmes will range from clips lasting around two minutes to episodes exceeding 20 minutes, providing viewers with an alternative to traditional long-form streaming content.
The partnerships will bring established media brands, including Vanity Fair, Vogue, Rolling Stone, Bon Appétit, People and Variety, onto the Netflix platform. Among the titles included in the arrangement are Vanity Fair’s Lie Detector, BuzzFeed’s 30 Questions and Variety’s Know Their Lines? series.
The initiative comes as competition intensifies within the digital video ecosystem. Short-form platforms are slowly capturing the attention of the audience over the last few years. This trend is changing the way consumers watch and poses a challenge to traditional streaming services.
Research cited in the report found that YouTube already surpassed Netflix in average time spent per day in 2025, and TikTok has been gaining on consumer engagement, particularly with younger viewers. Netflix has been making a series of product tweaks in response.
The company recently introduced a vertical video feed similar to TikTok’s scrolling feed and has branched into adjacencies like gaming, podcasts and live events. These moves broaden user engagement and reduce reliance on the binge-watching model that fueled the company’s growth over the past decade.
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