What defines a vertical series
- Portrait framing, normally 9:16
- Episodes designed for a phone: close framing, readable captions, a fast opening
- A continuing story or format across many episodes
- Navigation by swipe, with the next episode starting automatically
Vertical series vs microdrama
A microdrama is one kind of vertical series: scripted fiction in very short episodes with a cliffhanger at the end of each. Vertical series is the wider category. It also covers documentary, comedy, cooking, fitness, education and reality formats, and episodes that run several minutes.
Releasing a vertical series
- All at once: suits a pay-per-episode model, where momentum matters
- Daily or weekly: suits a subscription, giving a reason to return
- Free opening episodes, then a lock
- Clips on social platforms that link to the full series in your own app
What the platform has to handle
Long series of short episodes stress different parts of a platform than films do: catalog structures with a hundred episodes in a season, instant start and preloading of the next episode, per-episode locks and prices, and analytics showing the exact episode where viewers stop.
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