It’s time to go vertical.

Advertisers are always looking for the most efficient ways to reach their audience. This means studying media consumption patterns.

In recent years, mobile surpassed desktop as the most-used medium for internet intake, currently sitting at an estimated 55/45 split.

Despite the split, however, time spent on site still favors desktop users.

What does that tell us?

Mobile users are a very large, yet unique audience – they’re more fast-paced and have shorter attention spans. They scroll through more media in less time.

For advertisers, this means shorter, more impactful ads. 

A unique viewing experience

Most smartphone experiences take place while looking at the phone vertically. In fact, smartphone users hold their phones vertically about 94% of the time.

Given short attention spans and high vertical usage, implementing vertical video is the logical way for mobile advertisers to meet the unique needs of this audience.

Enter, vertical video

Vertical video ads are played with a vertical aspect ratio, to optimize video plays on mobile devices.

Vertical videos better fill out the real-estate required to play a video, making for a better experience for users and advertisers.

Consider this…

If a house filled out a piece of property nicely, you wouldn’t notice the property itself – you’d notice the house.

It’s a matter of eliminating disruption. The seamless integration of a home and the ground make for a single standing piece. Vertical videos are better integrated, and thus more preferential for viewers.

Vertical video, on the rise

In Q1 of 2017, MediaRadar found 112 sites running vertical video ads. Through Q3, however, there were 162 sites running vertical video, a 45% increase.

Among those sites, companies within the media and entertainment category continues to lead the charge, followed by pharmaceutical, automotive, and tech companies, all consistent with our previous findings.

Below, see the top advertisers using vertical video in 2017:

Even though there is not a large total number of sites currently using vertical video, there is still a very clear and notable increase within the last 6 months alone.

And with early reports suggesting higher returns on vertical video ads versus their horizontal counterparts, it’s further assured that the use of the format will continue to rise.

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