With messaging apps and mobile combined, vertical video is not just a trend. Ask CNN, ESPN and the like.

Have you heard about Mary Meeker? Here’s what Wired said about her in 2012:

“There is no president of the Internet. But there is a queen. That only-somewhat-exaggerated sobriquet belongs to Mary Meeker, the 53-year-old financial analyst turned venture capitalist.”

She has published, steadily, an Internet Trends Report for the past 20 years. Yes, you read that well, 20 years. This brings us back to 1995, the year that for so many of us where the internet actually really started.

At the end of May, she published her 20th report (a 196 slide powerpoint deck). Filled once again with comprehensive stats and trends as to where we are and what will be happening.

Of the many trends she documents (you should really spend some time to go over the full report, really worth the read), there’s one that caught my eye (on slide 22):

“…Something Funny Happened on the Way to the Small Screen […] Small Screen Vertical Viewing Became Big Deal […] Vertical Viewing = 29% of View Time (Multi-Platform) vs. 5% Five Years Ago, USA…”

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Yes, you read that well. We’ve changed our content consumption habits in the past five years. Where we would turn our phones and devices in the past, it seems we don’t anymore.

When you are producing your video content, are you experiencing it the way your users are? On a sidenote, the New York Times recently cut off desktop access to its sites to its staffers so that they would be forced to experience the content they produce the way a lot of their readership does.

In the meantime, when producing video, ask yourself where and how it will be consumed and if a good portion will be on mobile, test it vertical (or even produce it directly vertical), just to make sure the experience is as you wish it should be.

I am directing you to a VentureBeat article that recaps Meeker’s report. A longer read than usual if you decide to dive into the full report, but so much worth it.