Disney+ adds TikTok-style vertical videos to boost engagement

Disney began rolling out Verts on Disney+ to U.S. mobile subscribers the week of March 12, 2026, giving the service its first vertical-video feed and a new way to surface stories on phones. The Walt Disney Company said the feature marked the first phase of bringing vertical video content to Disney+, and that it was meant to help users quickly find their next favorite watch.

The company’s language also showed how tightly it plans to manage the format. Disney said it would allow “thoughtfully curated” fan-created videos that use clips from its library, a sign that the feed is meant to borrow the pace and habit-forming design of short-form video without turning Disney+ into an open-ended creator platform. The question is not whether Disney wants TikTok-style behavior on its app. It is how much of that behavior Disney is willing to permit while keeping its brand, its library and its audience expectations under control.

That balance matters because the rollout was tied to engagement. Deadline reported on January 8, 2026, that Disney+ was adding vertical videos in a push to boost daily engagement. Search results around the announcement also described the format as TikTok-style short-form video and said the move marked Disney’s entry into the fast-growing short-form video space. In practical terms, Disney was trying to make Disney+ feel more like a daily destination on mobile rather than a service people open only when they already know what they want to watch.

Disney also said Verts was just the start of “an ongoing evolution,” suggesting the company sees the feed as a long-term product line rather than a one-off test. Coverage around the announcement pointed to possible original content, curated highlights and bite-sized moments pulled from Disney’s catalog, but the central fact remained unchanged: the company was expanding beyond long-form viewing while keeping the gate firmly in its own hands.

That makes Verts a strategic test of who gets to shape the future of entertainment discovery. Disney is embracing the mechanics of creator platforms, but only on terms that preserve the studio’s control over curation, presentation and brand identity.