Facebook’s decision to launch vertical videos has already won the approval of many brands – like Mountain Dew, GE, Axe, Budweiser and Ruby Tuesday, that are among the brands testing the new FB feature before it launches.

Vertical videos, like Snapchat’s (as well as Periscope’s and Meerkat’s), fit the rectangular view of smartphones. Facebook’s box-shaped videos do not.

Snapchat began urging brands to present videos in vertical format in April 2015 to accommodate the growth in mobile use.

Snapchat has been enjoying (promoting) the advantage for both users and brands. Very That advantage is likely to be lost from September, when Facebook is expected to display vertical videos too.

The Facebook decision is also the result of its studies which have demonstrated that people have a tendency to watch videos longer on the site when they are presented in a vertical format and are more likely to enable the sound while watching a Facebook video in the vertical orientation.

For the last year or so, anyone could upload vertical videos. They’ve been displayed as squares until the viewer taps the post – which makes them turn to vertical. After launch, videos will automatically appear vertically in mobile news feeds.

The videos won’t be optimised for the orientation exactly the way Snapchat’s are – they won’t take up the entire screen as they do on Snapchat – but they won’t be cropped and shown as tiny squares either. They’ll be seen in a 2:3 aspect ratio, rather than the 1:1 ration displayed now.