If the Netflix app on your phone looks different this year, you are part of the company's first wave. Malaysia was one of just five markets worldwide chosen for the early rollout of Netflix's rebuilt mobile app, ahead of South Korea and Japan, and Netflix has now laid out what comes next: more short video, themed clip collections, and free games for the kids.
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What Netflix announced
At its APAC Product Innovation Showcase this week, Netflix confirmed that the redesigned app, live in Australia, New Zealand, the Philippines, India and Malaysia since earlier this year, will reach South Korea and Japan in July, with more Asia-Pacific markets to follow, TechCrunch reports.
The centrepiece of the redesign is Clips, a vertical feed of short videos cut from the shows and films in Netflix's catalogue. Netflix is now testing themed Clip collections that group those shorts by mood, genre and interest, covering anything from reality-show moments to behind-the-scenes footage and podcast highlights.
Why Malaysia got it early
Netflix has not said why Malaysia made the first cut, but the pattern is easy to read. Ad-reach figures compiled by DataReportal put TikTok at more than 30 million accounts in Malaysia, a number that exceeds the country's adult population. If a TikTok-style feed is going to change how people decide what to watch, a mobile-first, short-video-saturated market like Malaysia is the obvious proving ground.
None of this costs extra. Netflix Malaysia plans still run from RM18.90 a month for Mobile to RM62.90 for Premium, and local prices were left out of the most recent international round of increases, per Lowyat's coverage in March.
Free games for the kids, KPop Demon Hunters next
The second push is Netflix Playground, the games app for children aged eight and under that reached markets beyond the initial launch group, Malaysia included, at the end of April. It is included with every membership, carries no ads or in-app purchases, and its games work offline, which Netflix pitches squarely at long drives and waiting rooms.
From 20 June, Playground adds a KPop Demon Hunters collection with six mini-games built around the animated musical, which Deadline reports drew more than 518 million views in its first six months. For Malaysian families already deep in K-content, that is a clear play for the kids' tablet time, and it sits alongside Netflix's parental controls: separate kids profiles, maturity settings, title-level blocking and PIN-locked adult profiles.
What to watch next
Netflix's message to the region was less about new shows and more about minutes: the in-between moments when you would otherwise open TikTok or Instagram. Malaysia is already running the new app, gets the K-pop mini-games on 20 June, and will see themed Clip collections as testing expands. Whether Malaysians want their Netflix to feel more like TikTok is the question the company is, in effect, asking us first.
Image(s) courtesy of CardMapr.nl and Alexander Dummer on Unsplash.