The future is vertical content!

Author: Esmé Bouhali

Compared to a decade ago, when smartphones were just making their way into society, smartphones are glued to our hands. It would be stupid if companies don’t respond to this change by changing their content to these devices. And how do you change your visuals for you mobile audience? Simple, make it vertical! But why exactly?

The vertical trend started with the video’s and photo’s on Snapchat. The application can only be used while holding it vertically, this also applies to the augmented reality filters. January this year, 89% of the main audience of this mobile application was 18-24 years old. Vertical viewing increases when age decreases. So when you want to reach a young audience, Snapchat is your place to be.

After Snapchat more platforms provided the option for vertical content. Think about Facebook Stories, Instagram Stories and IGTV. Also YouTube made vertical advertising possible. Dutch singer, Teske de Schepper, released a vertical videoclip for her song ‘Venus’ in 2017. Her reason for a vertical video was ‘just to do something different for once’, not knowing this would be the future for mobile advertising.

70% of the millennials doesn’t turn their phones horizontally to watch a video anymore. Young adults even watch television shows on their smartphones. The natural way to hold your phone is vertical, so why let your audience turn their phones horizontal to enjoy your content? The truth is, your audience is lazy!

To make sure your audience wants to access your advertisement it’s important to listen to their preferences. When your audience holds their phone vertically 94% of the time, it’s not only logical but also smart to rotate your advertisement to target your audience the right way.

Didn’t think of vertical content yet? You don’t want to be last in line, so start!

Ps. Of course we are here to help when it comes to channelling your first vertical campaign.