Movie nights at home once meant snuggling on the couch, with a tub of popcorn in hand and eyes glued to the television or laptop screen. This experience has now become endangered—if not extinct, with smartphones growing into a more preferable mode of streaming and video consumption.
In response to this shift in consumer behaviour, primarily caused due to attention habits shaped by social media, streaming platforms are tailoring their experiences for a mobile-first audience. From short-form vertical videos to easier navigation models, the user experience (UX) design of these apps is evolving to meet the needs of on-the-go consumption.
Most recently, Netflix introduced ‘Clips’—a vertical video feed featuring short highlights from its catalogue of movies and shows—and other navigation updates in its app to make discovery easier for mobile users.
The strategy reflects a broader redesign taking place across streaming platforms. In 2024, JioHotstar (then Disney+ Hotstar) had unveiled the MaxView feature, allowing users to view match highlights, replays, and more, in portrait mode—a feature which has subsequently seen more mobile-friendly upgrades. Recently, JioHotstar also launched a dedicated micro-drama vertical Tadka, which taps into the short-form mobile entertainment segment.
Sharing the vision behind the same, Bharath Ram, Chief Product Officer, JioStar says, “For a large segment of users, especially younger audiences, the smartphone is the primary screen. Consumption is increasingly happening in shorter bursts, across commutes, breaks and between daily routines. Our approach has been to build the product around these evolving consumer behaviours rather than simply adapting legacy viewing experiences onto smaller screens.”
He adds, “Features like MaxView 3.0 reimagine premium viewing for vertical and handheld consumption. Tadka is another extension of this larger mobile-first philosophy. What makes it interesting is that it is not simply short-form content, but a new storytelling layer within the ecosystem. Vertical interfaces, contextual recommendations, conversational discovery, and shorter narrative hooks are helping users navigate large content ecosystems more intuitively, particularly on mobile devices.”
Interestingly, even audio streaming platforms such as Spotify and Audible have introduced or tested in-app swipe-able vertical video clips for convenient content-discovery.
The vertical streaming update
Ashwini Deshpande, Co-founder of Elephant, believes that vertical clips let content slip in instantly through shorter emotional hooks, making them a logical evolution for streaming apps. “Vertical scrolling works well because it is native to mobile behaviour—effortless interaction, quick sampling of content, full screen immersive viewing, and continuous movement through swipe gestures. Compared to traditional streaming grids, it feels faster, lighter and more intuitive for discovery,” she explains.
The core purpose that vertical clips serve is faster content-discovery. When faced with thousands of titles, users often abandon their search. Short-form clips reduce this decision fatigue. Angeline Gautami Fernando, Associate Professor - Digital and Social Media Marketing, Great Lakes, Chennai shares, “Earlier, content-discovery was intent-led. Today, it is stimulus-led. Users expect content to ‘find them’ before they decide to engage.”
Vaishnavi Bala Kumaran, Co-founder of BrandStory Digital, backs the observation: “The format allows algorithms to surface relevant content quickly, thus increasing engagement and retention. It creates a smooth, uninterrupted flow where users can explore more without fatigue.”
Rohit Sakunia, Founder of Art-E Mediatech, frames this shift as part of a broader ecosystem: people don't browse catalogues or check the Internet to watch something. They get influenced. “A clip goes viral on WhatsApp or a friend shares a reel of a pivotal scene, and suddenly everyone is watching Panchayat. Vertical feeds formalise that word-of-mouth loop inside the app itself. It meets users exactly where their decision-making happens,” he notes.
Besides facilitating more convenient content-discovery, mobile-friendly features like vertical clips are also helping platforms compress their communication funnel and strengthen data-led insights.
Fernando states that discovery, evaluation and engagement are no longer separate stages. “A 20-second clip can now act as a trailer, recommendation engine and emotional hook—all at once. And vertical feeds generate far richer behavioural signals—pause duration, swipe velocity and replays, which allow platforms to refine recommendation systems faster than traditional browsing interfaces ever could.”
What is next?
A vertical video feed is one of the most prominent UX changes. It defines how streaming platforms are moving towards a mobile-first experience. But the shift is far more complex, with several navigation and AI-led upgrades making their way into these apps. Deshpande shares, “We are clearly seeing patterns where motion previews are replacing text-heavy browsing; AI-led recommendations are becoming more prominent; built-in sharing and clip culture are taking centrestage, and reduced search effort through predictive discovery is becoming the norm.”
But with new mobile-first features, and formats like vertical clips and micro-dramas making their way to streaming platforms, the essential question that arises is: will this open up new opportunities for in-app advertising?
Kumaran is of the opinion that streaming platforms adopting social-style interfaces naturally create opportunities for more native and immersive ad formats. “This includes vertical video ads, in-feed integrations and contextual placements that can blend seamlessly into the content experience. We see this as a shift towards behaviour-led storytelling, where brands can communicate in ways that feel organic to the platform.”
Additionally, vertical clips allow for micro-intent targeting. “Instead of targeting demographics or genres, platforms can serve ads based on real-time consumption signals,” Fernando says.
The opportunity exists, but the advertising playbook is yet to be defined. Sakunia says, “India's short-form video ad revenue was still only ₹790–830 crore in FY24—barely 1–1.5% of total digital ad spends. This means that the space is genuinely wide open. Brands haven't figured out the format yet, which is exactly why agencies and founders can define the playbook rather than follow it.”
One thing is clear: streaming platforms ‘are’ upgrading their UX to cater to the mobile-first audience. However, implications across consumer behaviour, data discovery and advertising-led revenue will determine the next phase of growth in this space.
