If you can’t buy them, do everything exactly the way they do it. That seems to be Facebook’s motto with it’s latest update.
Facebook will soon provide greater support for vertical video in its news feed to enable a better experience on mobile devices. Thanks to other social media and live streaming apps like Snapchat and Periscope, vertical video is no longer a mark of amateurism and the feature should be a success for Facebook when it rolls out in October. Advertisers should keep this feature in mind when targeting consumers on Facebook and on other mobile social media platforms.
There are huge benefits to creating content vertically. Daily Mail North America CEO John Steinberg said last year that Snapchat told him vertical video ads have up to nine times more completed views than horizontal video ads. This is because content creators are meeting users on their level. It’s not that people can’t turn their phones horizontally; they just don’t want to.
Screen orientation is a major factor for advertisers to consider when targeting audiences. For example, vertical content works best for the YAYA market and mobile users, but horizontal content appeals to older generations and desktop users. Soon there may be an integrated Facebook campaign where the same ad is being shown vertically or horizontally, depending on what device is being used.
Although vertical video is growing in popularity, both orientations are equally viable options right now. By the end of this year, the number of video views will be virtually equal between mobile and desktop. For now, the only things that determine which one an advertiser should use are their intended audience and the medium used to reach it. In the future, an increase in mobile video views will lead to a greater emphasis on vertical video.
Facebook may be a little late to the vertical video party, but its arrival has definitely helped seal the legitimacy of vertical video in the minds of YAYA consumers.
Written by: Derrick Lin, Jalen Mosby, Hailey Rutledge