More story, greater scale: introducing Vertical Video Ads on X

While this platform became famous for its character count, X is becoming a video-first experience. Video is now part of more than four in five of all user sessions¹, and video views are growing at an average rate of 35% year over year².

We want to provide businesses with new opportunities to capitalize on this expanding viewership. So, today we’re expanding Vertical Video Ads to all advertisers globally, enabling a full-screen, sound-on advertising experience on X's fastest-growing video surface.

Reach a valuable audience around their passions

Each day, over 100 million users watch vertical video on X to keep up with the world around them³. On many days, vertical video accounts for more than 20% of total platform usage.

Vertical video gives our community another way to connect to their passions – led by sports, music, entertainment, events and news as the most watched content categories⁴. This presents an opportunity for X advertisers to reach their audiences around a wider variety of contextually rich content.

Captivate your audience and unlock incremental reach 

From beta testing, Vertical Video Ads are the most engaging ad format we've ever released. With full-screen viewability and sound on by default, a brand’s product and message take center stage.

Vertical Video Ads deliver high-quality views. We've observed that X users are 7X more likely to follow, repost, like and click on the URLs of an ad in vertical video compared to the same ad on the Home Timeline⁵. Advertisers can also drive website visits with a call-to-action button that appears after the user has watched one second of the video.

This format also unlocks greater reach on X – about a 10% incremental exposure vs running ads on the Home Timeline alone⁵ – making it an easy and cost effective opportunity for advertisers already running vertical video in other channels.

Businesses of all sizes can gain first-mover advantage. Early adopters have seen -14% lower CPMs on average compared to ads in the Home Timeline⁵, making it the perfect time to test the effectiveness of this new surface.

Pair vertical video with X’s industry-leading brand suitability solution

Starting today, all US advertisers can buy pre-screened, brand-suitable vertical video inventory thanks to our expanded partnership with leading global media measurement and optimization platform, Integral Ad Science (IAS).

This pre-screening capability enables IAS to classify organic content on X within the GARM framework. Participating advertisers have maximum control over where their ads appear, exclusively on the X vertical video feed. 

During beta testing when pre-bid IAS Optimization for vertical video was applied, X delivered zero brand safety floor violations and an average of 100% suitability across those campaigns measured by IAS⁶. This solution builds on X’s sustained commitment to brand safety and suitability, including the rollout of Sensitivity Settings, Adjacency Controls and 3rd Party Adjacency Measurement.

Also starting today, IAS’s post-bid Brand Safety and Suitability Measurement product expands to Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom.

More story, scale and suitability on X. What are you waiting for?

Vertical Video Ads offer advertisers more story and greater scale on X’s fastest growing surface. Now available with a market-leading brand suitability solution from Integral Ad Science, there’s never been a better opportunity to captivate your audiences on X while benefiting from brand-safe incremental reach.

Click here to learn how to set up Vertical Video Ads or get in contact with an X Ads specialist.