Vertical Videos: The Right Side Of Future

Authored by Vidya Narayanan, CEO & CO-Founder of Rizzle App

In 2015, NYTimes did a study that found that most people did not turn their phones to watch a horizontally shot video in its intended format. While traditional video creators have scoffed at the idea of vertical videos and consider vertical videos the work of amateurs, the world marches on to a future that is largely composed of vertical videos.

Vertical Content Is Not A New Concept

The idea of vertical content is not new. The most common sizes of paper and as an extension, books, and magazines, are vertical. We’ve consumed printed content in vertical format throughout the years. Yet, photography and films were made to mimic human vision, which is wide in nature. The best videos captured the main subjects in the central frames and set up peripheral vision elements on the sides. This mode makes sense when watching videos on screens we are not holding and for content that is not intended to be participatory in nature.

 But, phones are devices we hold and generally use in interactive mode. It is most convenient to hold a phone in one hand. So, it is no surprise that phones are held in portrait mode 94% of the time. By extension, it will be easy to see that content for phones is most natural in portrait mode.

The Vertical Video Revolution

It was not until Snapchat that the vertical video revolution came about. Surprisingly, until then, videos continued to be made for larger screens and adapted (uncomfortably and unnaturally) on the phones. But, Snapchat went on to show that vertical ads resulted in 9x more completions than horizontal ads. Snapchat also encouraged vertical video shot on phones from anyone and everyone. While that led to a lot of casual capturing of in-the-moment life moments, Musical.ly (now TikTok) led to a revolution in people capturing their performances on vertical video, cementing vertical videos as the right side of the future of video.

India - A Leading Market For Vertical Videos

In markets like India and China, where the surge in Internet usage largely coincided with the availability of data on smartphones, vertical videos have been the norm. Television viewing has been on a decline, while smartphone use has been growing steadily. In India, the number one usage of phones has been for videos, especially the free kind.

 As a result, the rise of short video apps in India is no surprise. India remains a leading market for short videos, indicative of where the world is headed with videos at large. 

Short Videos - The Future

Mobile video consumption comes with a few key factors defining the evolution of videos as we head into the future.

• Immersive experiences: Vertical, full-screen video is the most immersive experience you can bring on the phones. While Instagram struggles to balance its traditional feed layout and full-screen video experiences, short video apps have already made the leap to an immersive feed. Despite leading the change to vertical video, Snapchat got left behind in not having a vertical video feed.
• Short-form content: Mobile usage is riddled with interruptions in the form of phone calls, messages, and other notifications that are constantly taking away the attention of the user. With the already reduced attention span, these interruptions further make it necessary to focus on short videos as the only way to see the future of video.
• Interactive videos: Another mobile behavior that is key to short videos is ensuring interactivity. This brings the world of social and video together and that is the only world that is succeeding right now, making choices made by apps like Quibi questionable. Viewers are eager to like, share, comment, and engage in community-building activities around the experience of watching videos. 

Rizzle Series - Evolving The Future Of Video

Rizzle brings the next evolution in video - short, vertical series. This brings a new way to present the world of web series - built for smartphone video consumption. With 100+ series already available on the app, Rizzle Series have already been making large strides in bringing short episodic content to your phone. Rizzle’s secondary feed allows binge-watching episodes and Rizzle’s algorithms provide a way to continue watching series from where you left off, bringing the Netflix style viewing to short series on phones. Rizzle Studios brings free dancing and acting lessons to interested people, making the UGC series a reality.

 The future of video is vertical. We are already living in it!