Disney+ is shaking up the streaming experience with the rollout of Verts, a new short-form video feed now live for U.S. users on its mobile app. First unveiled at Disney’s Global Tech and Data Showcase at CES in January, the feature brings a TikTok-style scrolling experience to the platform — serving up scenes and moments pulled directly from Disney+’s massive catalog spanning more than 100 years of storytelling.
The timing is no accident. With TikTok and Instagram Reels dominating screen time among younger audiences, Disney is making a calculated move to meet mobile-first viewers where they already spend most of their time. Gen Z and Gen Alpha are simply not thinking about sitting down to watch a two-and-a-half-hour film on their phones — and Disney knows it.
What Verts Actually Does
The feature lives inside a new icon on the Disney+ app’s navigation bar. Once selected, users scroll vertically through a stream of short clips, and with a single tap they can add a title to their watchlist or jump straight into full playback. It is designed to be frictionless — a way to browse without really trying.
Here is what the Verts experience currently offers:
- Short clips and scenes pulled from Disney+’s full catalog
- A personalized feed powered by Disney’s recommendation algorithm
- A dedicated icon in the app’s mobile navigation bar
- One-tap access to add titles to a watchlist or start watching immediately
- Content refreshed in real time based on each user’s viewing habits
The Algorithm Behind the Feed
What separates Verts from a simple highlights reel is the recommendation engine powering it. Disney invested heavily in a personalization algorithm designed to serve each user clips tailored to their tastes — a direct nod to the very mechanic that made TikTok so addictive. Disney first tested vertical video on ESPN last August, where early results showed that Verts drove additional engagement, with the company describing the clips as snackable, short, bite-sized experiences that are great for building daily habits.
Beyond Disney+, other major streamers have also been investing in vertical video — Netflix added a vertical feed to its mobile homepage last March, Peacock has run its own vertical experiments, and Fox One included a vertical video feed when it launched last August. The industry-wide pivot signals that short-form is no longer just a social media format — it is quickly becoming a standard tool for streaming discovery.
Who Verts Is Really Built For
The business case behind Verts goes beyond just keeping users entertained. While streaming services still care about subscriber growth, more of their profit growth now depends on advertising — which requires users to show up more often and stick around longer. A short-form feed that drives daily app opens is also a feed that creates new advertising inventory.
The feed will eventually mix original short-form programming with repurposed social clips and scenes from Disney, Hulu, and ESPN content — giving the platform a wider creative canvas to work with. Disney has also previously announced a partnership with OpenAI to allow user-generated shorts featuring popular Disney characters, which are expected to eventually appear within the Verts feed as well.
What Comes Next for Verts
Disney has made clear that the current version of Verts is just the starting point. The combined Disney+ and Hulu app experience is also set to launch later this year, and Verts is expected to play a central role in that unified environment — pulling in content across sports, news, and entertainment into one personalized scrollable stream.
For a platform built on premium long-form storytelling, the shift toward short-form is a significant evolution. But if a 30-second clip hooks a viewer into a full episode or film, Disney will have found exactly what it was looking for.
Source: Tech Crunch
