Systems and methods for previewing content

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

providing, by a computing device, a content item for presentation through a display screen, the presentation of the content item beginning at a first time position;

determining, by the computing device, an adjustment to the presentation of the content item to correspond to a second time position;

determining, by the computing device, a thumbnail preview associated with a period of time that corresponds to the second time position; and

obtaining, by the computing device, the thumbnail preview that corresponds to the period of time, the obtaining further comprising:

determining, by the computing device, a first access metric for a composite preview video associated with the content item;

determining, by the computing device, a second access metric for a composite preview image associated with the content item; and

obtaining, by the computing device, the thumbnail preview that corresponds to the period of time from the composite preview video based at least in part on the second access metric for the composite preview image or the composite preview image based at least in part on the first access metric for the composite preview video.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , the method further comprising:

causing, by the computing device, the thumbnail preview to be presented through the display screen.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the composite preview video is composed of a set of frames that each correspond to a thumbnail preview for some portion of the content item.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein obtaining the thumbnail preview that corresponds to the period of time from the composite preview video based at least in part on the second access metric for the composite preview image further comprises:

determining, by the computing device, that the second access metric for the composite preview image satisfies a threshold; and

providing, by the computing device, at least one frame in the composite preview video as the thumbnail preview.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , the method further comprising:

generating, by the computing device, the composite preview video for the content item.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 5 , wherein generating the composite preview video for the content item further comprises:

obtaining, by the computing device, a set of thumbnail preview images for the content item, each thumbnail preview image corresponding to some duration of the content item; and

storing, by the computing device, the thumbnail preview images as frames of the composite preview video.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , the method further comprising:

receiving, by the computing device, the composite preview video for the content item from a content provider system through which the content item is being streamed.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein determining the adjustment to the presentation of the content item to correspond to the second time position further comprises:

determining, by the computing device, that a video playback scrubber was moved to the second time position.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , the method further comprising:

generating, by the computing device, the composite preview image from the composite preview video.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein obtaining the thumbnail preview that corresponds to the period of time from the composite preview image based at least in part on the first access metric for the composite preview video further comprises:

determining, by the computing device, that the first access metric for the composite preview video satisfies a threshold; and

providing, by the computing device, at least one portion of the composite preview image as the thumbnail preview.

11. A computing device comprising:

at least one processor; and

a memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the system to perform:

providing a content item for presentation through a display screen, the presentation of the content item beginning at a first time position;

determining an adjustment to the presentation of the content item to correspond to a second time position;

determining a thumbnail preview associated with a period of time that corresponds to the second time position; and

obtaining the thumbnail preview that corresponds to the period of time, the obtaining further comprising:

determining a first access metric for a composite preview video associated with the content item;

determining a second access metric for a composite preview image associated with the content item; and

obtaining the thumbnail preview that corresponds to the period of time from the composite preview video based at least in part on the second access metric for the composite preview image or the composite preview image based at least in part on the first access metric for the composite preview video.

12. The computing device of claim 11 , wherein the instructions further cause the computing device to perform:

causing the thumbnail preview to be presented through the display screen.

13. The computing device of claim 11 , wherein the composite preview video is composed of a set of frames that each correspond to a thumbnail preview for some portion of the content item.

14. The computing device of claim 11 , wherein obtaining the thumbnail preview that corresponds to the period of time from the composite preview video based at least in part on the second access metric for the composite preview image further causes the computing device to perform:

determining that the second access metric for the composite preview image satisfies a threshold; and

providing at least one frame in the composite preview video as the thumbnail preview.

15. The computing device of claim 11 , wherein the instructions further cause the computing device to perform:

generating the composite preview video for the content item.

16. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium including instructions that, when executed by at least one processor of a computing device, cause the computing device to perform a method comprising:

providing a content item for presentation through a display screen, the presentation of the content item beginning at a first time position;

determining an adjustment to the presentation of the content item to correspond to a second time position;

determining a thumbnail preview associated with a period of time that corresponds to the second time position; and

obtaining the thumbnail preview that corresponds to the period of time, the obtaining further comprising:

determining a first access metric for a composite preview video associated with the content item;

determining a second access metric for a composite preview image associated with the content item; and

obtaining the thumbnail preview that corresponds to the period of time from the composite preview video based at least in part on the second access metric for the composite preview image or the composite preview image based at least in part on the first access metric for the composite preview video.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 16 , wherein the instructions further cause the computing device to perform:

causing the thumbnail preview to be presented through the display screen.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 16 , wherein the composite preview video is composed of a set of frames that each correspond to a thumbnail preview for some portion of the content item.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 16 , wherein obtaining the thumbnail preview that corresponds to the period of time from the composite preview video based at least in part on the second access metric for the composite preview image further causes the computing device to perform:

determining that the second access metric for the composite preview image satisfies a threshold;

providing at least one frame in the composite preview video as the thumbnail preview.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 16 , wherein the instructions further cause the computing device to perform:

generating the composite preview video for the content item.