Have you watched a video on your phone today? Have you seen someone else watch a video on their phone? Today, and every day, over 500 million people will watch a video on Facebook. And ninety percent of Twitter videos are viewed on a mobile. Video is the content people are engaging with most and the trend is to go vertical.
Sign of the Times
Social media is leading the way when it comes to vertical video. By early 2017, social media channels had adapted to accommodate vertical video. Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter were all publishing these videos without black borders. Prior to this adaptation, video shot vertically had those annoying black bars eating up valuable real estate in horizontal mode. It was a less-than-subtle way of saying video should only be shot horizontally.
Why Vertical?
Since the advent of smartphones, we’ve been conditioned to operate phones vertically, but view video horizontally. Obviously, holding a phone vertically is the most natural position. And that makes us lazy. We don’t want to turn our phones to watch a video; we’d rather just skip it. Social media is catering to that proclivity with videos and news feeds presented vertically.
If you see a flying pig, you’re likely going to grab your phone hit record in the portrait setting. Today, most of the content shot on smartphones is captured this way. It’s only natural. Staying vertical promotes a seamless experience and this kind of video is tailored to those who watch videos on mobile. Which is most of us.
Supporting Evidence
- Facebook ads that use vertical video perform much better than their horizontal counterparts.
- Vertical videos get four times the views over square videos on Facebook
- People are more likely to watch an entire vertical video than they are an entire horizontal video
Don’t Go Changin’
When it comes to video quality, horizontal wins. The aspect ratio of televisions and movie screens in 4:3. Thus, tv shows and movies don’t seem to be interested in changing their ways. At least not at this time. So if you’re on the move and you want to watch something on Netflix, you’ll need to turn your phone sideways or suffer the tiny consequences.
Vertical, horizontal or square
We shoot it all! Not to mention our green screen studio and animation capabilities. If you’re in the market for a video, give us a call today for a free quote.
