For most of video’s history, the widescreen frame was the professional standard, and for good reason. Television and cinema originally favored a landscape view because it mirrors how human eyes naturally scan wide, taking in peripheral detail across a horizontal field. That logic carried into every format that followed, from corporate presentations, to online platforms like YouTube.
The assumption that serious content was presented horizontally held as long as most people watched on wide screens. This changed when smartphones became the primary way people consumed video.
How device behavior changed the format
According to Wyzowl’s 2025 analysis of vertical video and mobile audiences, over 75% of all video views now happen on mobile devices, and 94% of smartphone users hold their phones vertically while watching. Wyzowl’s research also found that vertical videos receive up to 4 times higher engagement on mobile compared to horizontal content.
The takeaway is straightforward: when most of your audience is watching on a device they naturally hold upright, content designed for that default behavior removes friction and holds attention longer.
This also applies directly to B2B. Decision-makers are consuming content on phones between meetings, during commutes, and while scanning updates on LinkedIn, which launched its own vertical video feed in 2024 and now reports that vertical videos generate significantly more impressions than horizontal posts. Product demos, client testimonials, thought leadership clips, and event recaps all perform better when designed for the screen your audience is actually using.
Vertical is moving beyond social media
What makes this shift especially relevant for businesses is that vertical is no longer confined to social platforms. A 2025 survey commissioned by Media.net and reported by Advanced Television found that 81% of respondents watch short-form video primarily on smartphones in vertical format, and 90% said they are open to seeing vertical video on publisher websites, not just social apps. The New York Times, The Economist, CNN, and TIME have all begun integrating vertical video feeds directly into their own sites. The Economist reported that this approach doubled paid subscribers’ engagement with video content over twelve months. For B2B companies, this signals that vertical is becoming an expected format to have wherever audiences consume content online, including your own website.
What this means for your production
Adapting does not require new equipment. The key is producing vertically from the start rather than cropping horizontal footage after the fact. Effective vertical video keeps subjects centered, uses readable captions for sound-off viewing, and puts the strongest moment in the first few seconds. For businesses already producing video content, this is often just one framing decision away from reaching a mobile audience more effectively.
The format your audience prefers has changed, and producing content that ignores that preference means competing at a disadvantage. Let’s talk about building a video production approach designed around vertical so that the content you invest in actually connects to the way your viewers watch.