Netflix Playback Speed Controversy

Overview

The Netflix Playback Speed Controversy refers to a public backlash against Netflix, who reportedly has been testing user-controlled playback speeds, allowing Netflix users to play a video at faster or slower speeds than the creator intended.

Background

On October 28th, 2019, the website Android Police^[1] reported that Netflix had been testing variable playback speeds of 1.25x and 1.5x on the Netflix Android application. They noted that some had already reported having the feature available to them (examples below). Android police wrote, "If you have it, you'll get the option to slow down speed to 0.5x or 0.75x, or raise it to 1.25x or 1.5×."

Developments

Online Reaction

Several prominent members of the film and television community condemned the reports. Director Judd Apatow tweeted,^[3] "No @Netflix no. Don’t make me have to call every director and show creator on Earth to fight you on this. Save me the time. I will win but it will take a ton of time. Don’t fuck with our timing. We give you nice things. Leave them as they were intended to be seen." The tweet received more than 32,000 likes and 3,000 retweets in 24 hours (shown below, left).

Breaking Bad actor Aaron Paul tweeted,^[4] "Stop. As the person talked about in this article I felt the need to speak out. There is NO WAY @netflix will move forward with this. That would mean they are completely taking control of everyone else’s art and destroying it. Netflix is far better than that. Am I right Netflix?" The tweet received more than 20,000 likes and 1,900 retweets in 24 hours (shown below, center).

Incredibles director Brad Bird tweeted,^[5] "Whelp-- another spectacularly bad idea, and another cut to the already bleeding-out cinema experience. Why support & finance filmmakers visions on one hand and then work to destroy the presentation of those films on the other???" The tweet received more than 1,900 likes and 325 retweets in 24 hours (shown below, right).

Netflix's Confirmation

On October 28th, 2019, Netflix confirmed the test on their Media Center blog.^[2] They wrote:

This is a mobile only test and gives people the ability to vary the speed at which they watch on phones or tablets – choosing from normal to slower (0.5X or 0.75X) or faster (1.25X and 1.5X). It’s a feature that has long been available on DVD players – and has been frequently requested by our members. For example, people looking to rewatch their favorite scene or wanting to go slower because it’s a foreign language title.

We’ve been sensitive to creator concerns and haven’t included bigger screens, in particular TVs, in this test. We’ve also automatically corrected the pitch in the audio at faster and slower speeds. In addition, members must choose to vary the speed each time they watch something new – versus Netflix maintaining their settings based on their last choice.

We have no plans to roll any of these tests out in the short term. And whether we introduce these features for everyone at some point will depend on the feedback we receive.

Search Interest

External References