The Walt Disney Company has begun rolling out a new vertical video discovery feed on Disney+ in the US this week, marking the first phase of the company’s plans to bring mobile-first shortform viewing to the streaming platform.
The feature, branded “Verts”, appears as a section within the Disney+ mobile app and allows subscribers to swipe through a stream of vertically formatted clips and scenes from the platform’s catalogue. Users can add titles to their watchlist or jump directly into full playback.
The launch follows plans outlined by Disney executives earlier this year at CES in Las Vegas, where the company confirmed it was developing a vertical video experience for Disney+. At the time, leadership positioned the format as part of a wider strategy to adapt to changing viewing behaviours shaped by short-form platforms and mobile discovery.
Initially, the Verts feed is focused on content discovery, surfacing moments and scenes from Disney’s film and television library in a personalised, swipeable format powered by recommendation technology. The company has indicated that the experience will evolve over time and could eventually include additional storytelling formats and creator-driven content linked to Disney fandoms.
The rollout builds on earlier experiments with vertical formats within Disney’s ecosystem, including the introduction of Verts on the ESPN app last year.
Disney has already begun testing vertical storytelling formats on its platforms. In February, the company premiered Locker Diaries, its first original vertical microdrama, on Disney+. The 11-part series unfolds from the perspective of a high school locker and features characters connected to the Zombies, Descendants and Phineas & Ferb franchises.
Disney executives have described the introduction of Verts as the opening phase of a longer-term evolution for the Disney+ interface. The move reflects a broader industry push into shortform mobile viewing. In the US, Fox Entertainment last year took a stake in Holywater, owner of the microdrama app My Drama, while other streaming platforms have begun exploring similar formats as vertical expands beyond social media into streaming.
