Disney+ becomes a bit more like TikTok

Disney has begun rolling out a new feature for US users of its mobile application, significantly approaching the dynamics of contemporary social networks.

The platform has in fact launched Verts, a video feed based on short, vertical-format content, originally announced at the beginning of this year.

This feature offers viewers sequences and highlights drawn from the vast archive of films and TV series available, mimicking the fast-swipe experience popularized by apps with enormous global reach.

Subscribers can access this new section via a newly introduced icon in the main navigation bar of the interface.

Verts is Disney’s weapon to compete with TikTok and Instagram

The introduction of Verts answers a clear commercial and strategic need: to increase daily interactions and reach more effectively the audience that prefers consuming content via smartphones.

While the viewer scrolls through the various clips on their screen, they have the option to immediately add a title to their watchlist or to start directly the film or episode from which the clip is taken.

Management explained how this solution offers a quick and enjoyable way to explore a richly historic catalog. The intention is to adapt the brand’s major narratives to a modern visual format, tailored to current mobile media discovery habits.

Advanced algorithms and future spaces for creators

Although the initial phase of Verts is focused exclusively on sharing snippets from official productions available on the platform, development prospects appear decidedly broader.

The American company plans to progressively integrate clips created by external content creators, aiming to reflect fans’ passions, as well as to experiment with new narrative formats.

The initial tests conducted during last summer showed a significant increase in audience engagement. This result was attributed to the use of a very sophisticated algorithm that powers the internal recommendation engine, capable of offering selections tailored to each individual’s preferences.

This is a fundamental technological investment, considering how crucial targeted recommendation effectiveness has been to the popularity of today’s vertical-video giants.

A shared trend among streaming competitors

The choice to adopt this immediate narrative format is not an isolated case. Indeed, last year, Netflix had also implemented a very similar feature to allow its subscribers to quickly browse clips from original titles.

By proposing short formats, the major players in the industry are striving to capture younger demographic groups, now accustomed to consuming rapid visual clips on their pocket-sized screens, often preferring them to longer viewing sessions.

The bet is simple: to capture the viewer’s attention with a compelling or entertaining fragment, hoping that the spark of curiosity quickly turns into a full viewing of the work that drew them in at first glance.