Vertical Media Takes its Place Alongside Film and TV as a Powerful Audiovisual Language
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- Hernan Lopez, former 20th Century Fox TV executive and Wondery founder, argues vertical video is a third audiovisual language alongside film and TV, born with its own talent pools, aesthetics, and business models
- Lopez's firm estimates vertical video outside China is on track to generate $150 billion in revenue this year
- Meta's Reels alone hit a $50 billion annual run rate last fall — more than Netflix's global revenue last year, per the source
- Amazon, Alphabet, Comcast, Disney, Meta, Netflix, and Paramount all discussed vertical products or announced new ones during the most recent earnings season
- Microdramas, which emerged first in China and then the West, are to vertical video what soap operas were to 1950s TV — one early genre, not the whole language
- At a May upfront presentation, a leading streaming executive dismissed microdramas outright, yet every major streamer, studio, and tech platform sent representatives to Lopez's Vertical summit in Hollywood last month
Why it matters: With $150 billion in projected vertical video revenue outside China this year and Meta's Reels alone exceeding Netflix's annual revenue, studios and platforms can no longer dismiss the medium. The piece directly counters a streaming executive who wrote off microdramas in May while every major company is building vertical products; agencies, studios, and investors who set terms now will own the medium's next decade.
