Source: http://digiday.com/platforms/time-take-v...

Thanks to apps like Meerkat, Twitter-owned Periscope and Snapchat, the media industry is beginning to take vertical video seriously. That’s because vertical video delivers better results than standard video in environments where people tend to hold their devices upright. Snapchat told the Daily Mail, a Snapchat Discover content partner, that vertical video ads have up to nine times more completed views than horizontal video ads, according to Daily Mail North America CEO Jon Steinberg.

A number of Snapchat advertisers have created vertical video assets for the app, including Burger King, Macy’s and Spike. Brands are also streaming vertical videos on Periscope and Meerkat: Retailers have jumped on Periscope toshow off their wares, while automakers used both Periscope and Meerkat to unveil new cars at the New York Auto Show. Both apps only work in portrait mode, a design decision driven by the fact that people generally hold their phones with one hand. Periscope does plan to add a landscape mode down the road, but the company’s CEO Keyvon Beykpour expects most users to stick with vertical video, according to BBC News.When you encounter a video ad in Snapchat or any other mobile app, it’s “totally stupid” to have to rotate your device in order to see it in fullscreen, said Steinberg. A lot of viewers will just navigate away when they encounter a horizontal video ad on mobile. “But if a video is vertical and a little bit compelling, you’re going to keep watching. It intuitively makes sense.”

Vertical video on mobile is usually a better user experience, said Steinberg. Rotating your phone to watch a video in widescreen “is the equivalent of having to sit at your desk and rotate your computer monitor all day long,” he said. “I don’t know if I’d want to watch ‘Avatar’ vertically. But I’m obsessed with Periscope, and I’ve watched Periscopes for 20 or 30 minutes and not had any problem.”