From TikTok and YouTube to Facebook and even ESPN, vertical videos are everywhere, and the now addictively scrollable format is headed for Disney+, too. 

Disney executives rolled out the plan at a company-sponsored advertising event at CES this week, noting that it will “evolve the experience over time” and “explore its use in a variety of ways across categories, and content types, for a personalized and dynamic feed.”  

In terms of what kind of videos Disney+ might present in a vertical format, a Disney exec told Deadline that “everything’s on the table,” including social clips, “refashioned” scenes from shows and movies, and short-form content. 

“We’re obviously thinking about integrating vertical video in ways that are native to core user behaviors,” said Disney EVP Erin Teague in the Deadline interview. “So, it won’t be a disjointed, random experience.” 

Of course, TikTok-style vertical videos have become ubiquitous—inescapably, some would say—on social apps over the past five years or so, with Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook jumping on the bandwagon starting around 2020.  

But now the big streaming services are dabbling in vertical content as well, on both small and large screens. YouTube Shorts have long been a thing on the YouTube smart TV app, for example, and Netflix began testing vertical videos on its mobile app last year. 

For its part, Disney rolled out “Verts” on the ESPN mobile app back in August, so it’s no surprise that it’s now testing the vertical video waters on Disney+.

How it will actually happen is clearly still up in the air, however, although Teague told Deadline that she doesn’t only see them as “teasers” for Disney+ shows and movies, but as a way of “turning Disney+ into a must-visit daily destination.”

Author: Ben Patterson, Senior Writer, TechHive