Netflix’s “clip that” feature will let fandoms to drive word-of-mouth marketing

Fandom is one of the driving forces behind digital content creation. Tumblr GIFsets promoting TV shows, four-hour YouTube essays about the Star Wars hotel, hundreds of millions of words of fanfiction, and countless views and comments on content creators’ videos (not to mention the channel subscriptions and merch purchases) are all born out of fan fervor. Platforms like YouTube have increasingly recognized how powerful fandoms can be–and now Netflix seems to be catching on, too.

For years, Netflix, like virtually all other major streaming services, hasn’t allowed people to take screenshots or screen recordings of what they’re watching. If you try to record any kind of footage from what you’re watching, you’ll get a blank black square. This prevents some piracy methods, sure, but it also hinders fans who just want to share a favorite shot or talk about a favorite clip on social media. Posts from people like that are priceless promo for Netflix, and we’ve seen how a groundswell of support on social media can revive viewership for old shows, or build fanbases around IPs that otherwise might have been overlooked due to low promotion.

Netflix may also have seen the effectiveness of that support, because its newest feature allows users to save clips from its original movies and TV shows and share them across social media platforms.

Called Moments, the feature promotes word-of-mouth content recommendation by setting up clips so that, when someone sees them on social media and clicks on them, it takes them to that scene in their own Netflix app. (The functionality is reminiscent of YouTube’s “related links” feature, where creators can link short- and long-form videos, potentially driving traffic from Shorts to longs.)

Basically, people who use Moments to post clips are getting an easy way to share their enthusiasm for Netflix originals, and people who see clips are getting quick, automatic transport to start watching the full show or movie themselves. It’s a feedback loop for fandom–one that could pay off big for Netflix.

Moments launches Nov. 4, and is being pretty heavily promoted: Netflix has designed an entire advertising campaign around it called “It’s So Good,” where celebs like Cardi B, Simone Biles, and Giancarlo Esposito star in ads about their favorite moments from Netflix originals like Wednesday, Stranger Things, Society of the Snow, Baby Reindeer, One Day, BEEF, and Drive to Survive.

We’re not sure if this will ever happen, but if Netflix has significant tracking on Moments being shared to social media, the feature could theoretically one day work as a kind of affiliate marketing, where people who post engaging content with Moments clips could be rewarded for getting a certain number of people to click on the Moment and watch the full TV show or movie–or maybe become a new subscriber.

And, even if that doesn’t happen, Moments will likely be very valuable to Netflix as a source of free, fan-led marketing.