Digital attention is under pressure like never before. Social media platforms like TikTok, Instagram and YouTube have set the standard for how users expect to encounter content: fast, visual and in vertical format.
For media outlets, that means one thing: If you want to retain attention on your own platforms, you need to learn from the user experience that defines media consumption today.
Vertical video is no longer just a trend – it has become the standard for mobile experiences. Users are accustomed to scrolling through short clips served in an endless flow. When they encounter a similar experience on a news site, it feels intuitive and natural.
This gives media outlets a unique opportunity: To create a video format on their own domains that matches the experience users already love on social media – but where the brand relationship and ownership of the traffic remain with the media outlet itself.
We see more media outlets beginning to experiment with vertical video feeds – a format that gathers short videos in a flow users can scroll through. The benefits are clear:
The result is both a stronger user experience and a more effective way of leading readers deeper into the media outlet's universe.
Looking at social media, it is clear that vertical video flows are also attractive to advertisers. Ad formats integrated directly into the video feed – e.g. after every third video – are already standard on TikTok and Instagram.
It stands to reason that media outlets will increasingly be able to offer similar formats on their own platforms. That way, they can claim a share of ad budgets that would otherwise land with the big tech giants.
The question is no longer whether vertical formats will earn a place in the media landscape – but how media outlets choose to leverage them. Those who experiment early with solutions on their own platforms gain a head start: both in the battle for attention and in the battle for advertisers' budgets.
"At STEP Network we work closely with media outlets on exactly these formats – and see enormous potential in vertical video feeds becoming part of a broader digital strategy."
Several Danish publishers are already testing vertical video feeds on their own sites. See how Folketidende implements the format here.
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