Our data show that the vast majority of our audience consumes news digitally via mobile, hence we knew we needed to be thinking mobile-first. We know that having a 16:9 stream is not conducive to a mobile user, who holds and consumes vertically in 9:16. So we set out to find an innovative way to stream in 9:16 without changing or adding operational requirements.

We teamed up with Wildmoka who provided a technology solution based on our needs, where every graphic template with windows is verticalized and recomposed in 9:16 through machine learning and artificial intelligence. The technology is also able to detect the change in program and dynamically change the background based on the background graphics of the shows, and also display the show logo, thereby maintaining the brand identity of the show even in vertical streaming. Where verticalization is not possible, we are able to detect the information from the headlines in the ticker and recompose it in the 9:16 real estate. To distinguish the ticker headlines from the current show, there is a label that shows "In other news".

Our data show that 80% of our audience consumes news digitally via mobile, hence we knew we needed to be thinking mobile-first. Our target audience was mobile users who consume news vertically as the intuitive user experience. The approach is to use technology to verticalize every graphic template with "windows" and recomposed in 9:16 through machine learning and artificial intelligence. Where verticalization is not possible, we remain in 16:9 but we dynamically change the background based on the background graphics of the shows, thereby maintaining the brand identity of the show even in vertical streaming. We are also able to detect the information from the headlines in the ticker and recompose it in the 9:16 real estate. To distinguish the ticker headlines from the current show, there is a label that shows "In other news".

In Feb 2021, we launched Phase 1 of our vertical project, where it was the MVP, serving vertical templates and dynamic backgrounds.

In June 2021, we launched Phase 2, where we integrated ticker information into the vertical stream.

Reach

• 25K total views (90% of which are mobile/tablet)

• Across 22K unique viewers (12% of users are recurring)

• Top 3 countries are Egypt (44%), KSA (38%), and UAE (2%)

Engagement

• Average time spent: 12m53s

• Viewership speaks on Saturdays and Sundays between 10am and 2pm