By Paul Allen in strategic leverage — 29 Oct 2025

Why Netflix Isn’t Chasing TikTok—and What That Means for Business Leverage

When Netflix's CTO Elizabeth Stone announced that the company is experimenting with vertical video but emphatically not trying to become TikTok, it sent a ripple through the digital business ecosystem. At first blush, it may look like Netflix’s late dive into vertical video is just another content fad chase. Spoiler alert: it isn’t. This move reveals a shrewd application of leverage and systems thinking, something too many companies miss in the mad scramble to mimic every shiny new thing.

The Vertical Video Temptation: Why Everyone’s Chasing TikTok

TikTok upended the video landscape by flipping the traditional viewing experience on its head—vertical, bite-sized, endlessly scrollable content designed to hijack attention spans. The broadcaster’s playground became a scroll-happy, dopamine-rewarding, content vortex that redefined user engagement. Naturally, businesses across sectors sprinted to slap vertical video onto their strategies out of fear of missing out.

But here’s the kicker: chasing TikTok’s model without contextual leverage is like sprinting on a treadmill—lots of movement, no forward progress.

The barrier to success with any new content format isn’t just about shoehorning your existing offering into the style du jour. It’s about leveraging your unique strengths within the business system, optimizing resource allocation, and exploiting leverage points instead of playing copycat to what others seemingly do well.

Netflix’s Vertical Video Experiments: Leverage, Not Copycatting

Elizabeth Stone’s comments unveil a masterclass in how to leverage emerging formats without losing strategic focus. Netflix isn’t pivoting its core but layering new capabilities on top of a vast, systemically sophisticated content platform—bolting vertical snippets that can tease, complement, and convert users within their broader ecosystem.

This is strategic leverage through augmentation, not abandonment. Netflix is:

Leveraging its massive, curated content library to create high-impact, targeted vertical clips.
Experimenting systematically within its platform’s unique architecture, not blindly mimicking TikTok’s user-generated wildfire.
Maintaining investment in the core system that earns its chest-thumping $40+ billion annual revenue.

This approach echoes the systems thinking principles outlined in Netflix’s New Kids Profiles: A Masterstroke in Strategic Leverage and Systems Thinking. The play is clear: build on strengths, do not dilute by chasing fleeting trends.

Leverage Points in the Streaming Ecosystem

Netflix understands that its leverage points lie in content exclusivity, user personalization, and a frictionless viewing experience. Vertical video elements can serve as a leveraged accelerant—a way to:

Bump user engagement and retention via teaser formats optimized for mobile, integrating seamlessly without disrupting binge sessions.
Feed social discovery loops by providing vertical video-format snippets that encourage sharing and virality while pointing back to the core content.
Enable cross-functional collaboration between data science, content, and marketing teams to optimize delivery and experiences.

Vertical video is not a standalone pivot; it is an incremental leverage point inside a complex system. Contrast this with startups or platforms that make vertical video their whole brand and experience. Netflix is playing a different game—one that rewards layered leverage on existing assets and systems.

What Businesses Can Learn: Systems Thinking Beats Flock Mentality

Panic-chasing whatever’s trending online is the antithesis of strategic leverage and systems thinking. Successful businesses embed new trends into their unique ecosystems rather than chase them as ends in themselves.

Here’s the unvarnished truth:

One-size-fits-all strategies are a recipe for wasted resources. You don’t have to be TikTok to win at video—and you don’t have to chase every shiny tool or format.
Systems thinking unlocks leverage points within your business that outsiders overlook. Your existing assets, processes, and customer patterns contain untapped levers for growth.
Experimentation is structured, not random. Netflix’s measured vertical video tests are within a system designed to learn fast and integrate swiftly.

As an entrepreneur or business leader, reflect on your own leverage playbook. Are you upgrading around your core strengths? Or chasing distractions that punish your systems instead of strengthening them?

The Real Vertical Video Challenge: Integration, Not Attraction

Vertical video in itself is meaningless without integration into a coherent business strategy. Platforms like TikTok are built bottom-up for user-generated virality. Netflix is top-down engineered for curated consumption. Trying to morph into a TikTok replica would be a strategic dilution of Netflix’s core strength.

This marks a sharp distinction between leverage reloaded through real-time engagement frameworks and brand dilution. Vertical video lives in a strategic handshake where Netflix leverages this emerging format to:

Support mainline shows with micro-content teasers and sneak peeks.
Drive discovery and ensure social engagement funnel back into the subscription ecosystem.
Benefit from analytics feedback loops that optimize content performance across formats.

It’s not about being another social app; it’s about sharpening the business ecosystem’s edges. Frankly, a classic case of better to be a specialist with leverage than a generalist with noise.

When to Leap into New Formats—and When to Walk Away

Netflix’s take is a reminder that blindly entering new content wars without clear leverage is often self-destructive. Too many brands attempt flashy format pivots without assessing how it fits their system.

Ask yourself these diagnostic leverage questions before jumping into new formats:

Does this format complement or cannibalize our existing business model?
Do we have unique capabilities or assets to gain advantage here, or are we just catching up?
Will this investment distract us from core system optimizations that actually move the needle?
Is our approach grounded in systematic experimentation or reactive imitation?

If you answered “no” to any of these, you’re probably chasing shiny without strategic leverage. For a roadmap on surfacing true leverage points in your business system, start with Leverage Thinking: The Definitive Guide.

Final Thought: Strategic Leverage Is Watching the Game, Not Just Playing It

Elizabeth Stone’s candid stance doesn’t just reveal Netflix’s restraint—it exposes a rare breed of strategic rigor in a noisy digital world addicted to jumping on bandwagons.

In business, leverage is not about reacting to every trend—it's about understanding the rules of the system and inserting yourself at points that multiply your impact without multiplying your effort.

If Netflix were to scramble to become TikTok, it would be like a blue whale trying to swim like a salmon—wasted energy and confusion. Instead, Netflix uses vertical video as a precision tool inside an ecosystem created over years. That’s leverage gold.

For those frustrated with the business treadmill treadmill, it’s time to switch mental gears—stop sprinting circles and start mapping your unique leverage pathways. Your business systems and growth curves will thank you for it.

If vertical video isn’t your core, don’t chase it blindly. Play your long game leverage with boldness and systems thinking precision.

And if you want a deeper dive into how tech giants weave leverage into their DNA without losing their minds, explore our Apple and Microsoft leverage playbook. Because knowing when to leap and when to sit tight is the real digital alpha move.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is it important for businesses to leverage their unique strengths when adopting new content formats?

Chasing trends without leveraging strengths within the business system leads to inefficiency and lack of progress.

How does Netflix differentiate its approach to vertical video experimentation from simply copying TikTok?

Netflix leverages its curated content library and platform architecture to strategically integrate vertical video snippets without abandoning its core strengths.

What are some key considerations for businesses before venturing into new content formats?

Businesses should assess how a new format complements their existing model, identify unique advantages, avoid distractions from core optimizations, and implement systematic experimentation.