Is vertical the new horizontal?
Snapchat encourages advertisers to shoot videos in a vertical format
According to new data from Snapchat, videos and ads that are shot vertically perform better than the videos shot horizontally. In addition, Snapchat said that videos shot in the vertical position are viewed in completion 9x more than videos shot horizontally. This is mostly attributed to the fact that users don’t need to tilt their phones to view the content when it is shot vertically.
While it may seem silly to think that turning our phones sideways is too much work, the data speaks for itself. Snapchat is now encouraging all of its advertisers to upload content in the vertical format to improve engagement and views.
Snapchat isn’t the only digital channel that favors content in the vertical format. Many smartphone users don’t take photos horizontally because it ends up getting chopped when uploading to Instagram, and video apps Meerkat and Periscope also stream their videos vertically.
Is vertical the new horizontal when it comes to videos? Well, not exactly, but we’re getting close. YouTube and other video hosting sites still favor videos uploaded in the horizontal format, but in the social world, the vertical format may be staging a slow takeover.
To experiment with these new findings, encourage employees to shoot some videos with their smartphones vertically, post them on your hospital’s social sites, and watch the numbers. Compare the number of views, completions and engagement to videos shot in the horizontal format. Social media will forever be a trial and error type of medium, but that’s half the fun.