Lauren Bateman argues creators should be present on both mobile and desktop formats to maximize reach. She uses personal anecdotes (e.g., scrolling at the dentist) to show audiences consume short vertical content on mobile and longer horizontal content on desktop, and recommends meeting people where they are to convert short-form viewers into long-form watchers.
I think it's important to be accessible on both a desktop and a mobile format because most people have a device in their hand today and usually it's a mobile phone. I do it. I'm at the dentist office waiting and what am I doing? I'm scrolling down my feed, I'm watching this up and down content. I don't have time to watch the horizontal content. And I want to be able to meet new people, get my brand out there while they're doing that zombie scroll. It's just like you're scrolling through content, digesting social media. And then when they sit down at their desktop with their guitar in hand, guess what? Maybe they watch one of my shorts. And now there's this long form piece of video. Hey, I remember when I was sitting at the dentist office, I saw this woman with a guitar and here she is again. I'm going to watch this video. So you want to be able to meet people where they're at, whether they're sitting in front of the desktop with the guitar ready to learn, or they're at the dentist office scrolling through and watching short form.
