There are great conveniences, features, and perks that streaming services have developed over the years, adapting to the many ways modern viewers consume media. Netflix led the way years ago when an episode on the streaming service would automatically jump to the next one without needing the viewer to confirm the selection.
The ability to create multiple profiles on a service and curate a watch list are also among the more popular features on many offerings. However, even as streamers raise prices and look to attract more subscribers, there is one major feature that all of them continue to lack: where are all the DVD-style chapters on the shows and movies I’m watching?
Consumers need the scene selection option
Adds convenience to your viewing habits
Every streaming service needs some kind of chapters or divisions within each movie, TV show, docuseries, concert film, sporting event, and any other entertainment option that’s available to viewers. Every streaming service lets you move forward and back through a title, often with different levels of speed depending on how many times you press a button or how long you hold it for.
That system just isn’t good enough for the modern viewer. The scrolling forward and back takes finesse and precision, especially if you’re moving at a high speed. It’s just too easy to go too far.
Anytime you want to start something from the middle, or even the end of an episode (or movie) for that matter, it takes a lot of work to scroll through; chapters would be easier. They would also come in handy if you fell asleep while watching something. That’s because when you finish an episode, Netflix and others mark that episode as complete; your ‘continue watching’ marker is already on to the next episode. So if you want to rewatch the last ten minutes, you need to go back to the episode, and then scroll all the way through to the end. This is unacceptable.
How DVD chapters worked so well
Dividing up a title into small sections
Back when DVDs were wildly popular, users were greeted with a menu instead of a home page, where they could start the title from the beginning to jump to a spot in the story already in progress. It was tedious to fast-forward through DVDs, so chapters allowed you to head to a spot within the story that was more convenient.
They were most convenient for movies, and sometimes the divisions were so short that a title might have 20 or 25 different chapters. That basically allowed you to jump to parts of the story in increments of five or ten minutes. Dramatic TV shows often had them too, where a few chapters lined up with the commercial breaks in an hour-long show. It was a smart, easy, and convenient feature to include, and it’s staggering something similar hasn’t been instituted just yet on every streaming service.
How chapters would work on streamers
Simple and easy solution to a basic problem
It doesn’t seem like it would take a lot of effort to institute what amounts to a jump-to link in a title. Firstly, there should be an option available on each individual title menu. Alongside options like “Play Now” and “Watch Trailer” and “More Like This,” you should have the option to select where you want to start the show or movie from. Just add another section that offers chapters, Netflix!
These should also be included within the title itself; they should pop up when you start scrolling, and be easily available like other in-title menu options. Apple TV+ lets you inquire about who’s in the scene you’re watching, so why can’t it also bring up chapters on a side menu so that you can quickly move to another section. It’s not complicated.
Each section should be about 10 minutes long or so, but they would have to start at a reasonable time in the title; you don’t want to drop into a scene that’s in the middle of a high-speed chase. Just find the act break or scene change and throw down a marker.
Adding chapters with titles and descriptions
Divisions should be detailed and plentiful
Streamers need to implement these markers right away, but they also need to be done well. Like many of the DVD chapters that came before, streamers should make sure their chapters have titles and descriptions as well. These titles were often silly, but they did give an indication of where you might be in a story; some movies only used numbers, regrettably.
Surely someone, or failing that, an LLM, could come up with a pithy and accurate title for each chapter. The simple feature would go a long way to making streaming titles easier, and it would also help streamers as their ultimate goal, as always, is to keep you watching.
