Watching TV no longer just means watching TV. After the rise of tablets and smartphones in the late aughts, a second-screen experience became the new standard for home viewing. Live-blogging the latest season of Netflix’s Stranger Things, or buying a new T-shirt during it, is now just reflexive for millions of people. According to a 2023 YouGov study, 91% of Americans at least sometimes look at their phones while watching TV. For generations weaned on TikTok, that “sometimes” might be a little closer to “always.” As Saturday Night Live’s Michael Longfellow recently joked about the app’s brief ban: “What do I even watch during a movie now?”

Although viewing habits have long been headed in this direction, what’s changed more recently is that Netflix now appears to have adapted to those habits by optimizing for second-screen viewing.

A December deep dive into Netflix’s approach, from literary culture magazine n 1, describes how the streaming service has subtly changed the way some of its movies and shows get made. As Will Tavlin........

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