Skip to main content

Cover your eyes: Netflix vertical video is coming this year

Even traditional video-on-demand services are no longer safe, it seems: Netflix vertical video is coming later this year.

The company started testing the idea more than six months ago, and one of its co-CEOs has now confirmed that the move is going ahead …

Vertical Video Syndrome

I’ve never attempted to hide my own views on this particular affliction. Yes, I fully understand that a great deal of video viewing now takes place on phones. Yes, I appreciate that the default orientation of phones is vertical.

However, iPhones and other sophisticated models incorporate an advanced feature in which we are able to use our supplied arms to manually rotate the device 90 degrees in order to use it in landscape mode.

Netflix vertical video is coming

TechCrunch reported the bad news from the company’s latest earnings call.

Set to launch later in 2026, Netflix’s redesigned mobile app is intended to “better serve the expansion of our business over the decade to come,” according to co-CEO Greg Peters […]

At the center of the redesign is deeper integration of vertical video feeds, which the streaming giant has been experimenting with since May.

The experiments have so far been limited to short trailers from Netflix shows and movies, but Peters suggested that there may be worse to come.

“You can imagine us bringing more clips based on new content types, like video podcasts,” Peters remarked during the earnings call, further signaling that Netflix sees swipeable short-form clips as a powerful tool for capturing attention and increasing time spent in the app.

9to5Mac’s Take

We were warned. We didn’t listen.

Photo by Sayan Ghosh on Unsplash

FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.

You’re reading 9to5Mac — experts who break news about Apple and its surrounding ecosystem, day after day. Be sure to check out our homepage for all the latest news, and follow 9to5Mac on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to stay in the loop. Don’t know where to start? Check out our exclusive stories, reviews, how-tos, and subscribe to our YouTube channel

Comments

Author

Avatar for Ben Lovejoy Ben Lovejoy

Ben Lovejoy is a British technology writer and EU Editor for 9to5Mac. He’s known for his op-eds and diary pieces, exploring his experience of Apple products over time, for a more rounded review. He also writes fiction, with two technothriller novels, a couple of SF shorts and a rom-com!


Ben Lovejoy's favorite gear