If there’s one thing that annoys me on the telly box news, it’s when they use a social sourced video in portrait mode with some blurring edges to fit my landscape TV. It’s largely driven by social platforms such as TikTok and Instagram, but now a new TikTok landscape test might put an end to the obsession with portrait videos.
TikTok have already announced longer videos – up to 10 minutes, and landscape takes them out of the Instagram territory and into the world of YouTube and broadcast. Many belonging to older generations are so attuned to landscape from their telly box days that the Gen Z obsession with portrait just doesn’t sit nicely… plus just about every piece of content from webinars, interviews and ‘How to’ videos are produced in landscape.
Moving into YouTube’s world with TikTok landscape will not only appeal to a more mature audience, but also give the younger generations (where TikTok usage outranks YouTube) more flexibility in how they produce their content.
It’s likely that the ingrained portrait mode will continue for shorts as changing consumer behaviour that radically would take more than a simple choice. But for tutoring or demonstrations where your device is held in a tripod TikTok landscape is going to be a fantastic option.
There are only two caveats before you get too excited – TikTok Landscape is only available to select users in the test and there’s no guarantee that it’ll become a permanent feature. The other caveat is perhaps more pertinent and that is monetisation – on YouTube the incentive to product content is that it’s relatively easy for creators to receive remuneration for their efforts but very few have access to monetisation on TikTok.
Remuneration won’t concern brands who are interested in reach, but it will mean that their followers may be more inclined to carry on using YouTube where a revenue stream can be built.
