Disney+ Goes All-In on Vertical Drama With a Dedicated 'Verts' Feed

Disney+ is going all-in on vertical drama.

The streamer has launched a dedicated vertical feed, branded Verts, with original series including Locker Diaries: Zombies now live. It is the first time one of the major studios has built a vertical-first viewing surface inside its flagship app rather than licensing a few titles as a test.

What Verts is

A feed, not a folder. Verts presents vertical series in a swipeable, phone-native interface that mirrors how microdrama apps work. Disney is not asking its audience to watch short episodes in a television player; it is meeting the format on its own terms.

The launch followed Disney’s selection of DramaBox for its accelerator program earlier in the year, which in hindsight was the research phase.

Why it matters

Disney’s entry removes any remaining argument that vertical is a format for startups and overseas platforms. One of the biggest studios in the world has decided its audience wants this and has built product for it. Every other streamer now has to answer the same question internally.

For the people who make vertical, the implications are mixed in the familiar way. Disney’s production standards, union relationships and budgets are a step up from most of the format. Its casting pipelines are also a step away from the performers who built vertical without agents. The association’s interest is in keeping the second group in the room as the first group’s money arrives. The Verified Talent Registry is the association’s answer to a Disney casting director asking who the format’s leads are.