What is a vertical video ad?
A vertical video ad is a short video in 9:16 — taller than it is wide, 1080 × 1920 pixels — made to fill a phone screen held upright. It is the native format of Instagram Reels, TikTok, Facebook Reels and YouTube Shorts, which is why a car listing video is made vertical first.
Definition
A vertical video ad is a paid or organic short video in portrait orientation, 9:16, that fills a phone screen without letterboxing. Typical length is 15 to 30 seconds. It is watched with sound off by default, so the message has to be on screen in type.
Why it is the default for car ads
The short-video surfaces where buyers scroll — Reels, TikTok, Shorts — are all vertical and all full screen. A 16:9 video posted there plays small with black bars. A 9:16 one takes the whole screen, and the car fills it.
What is specific about a car in 9:16
A car is a wide object in a tall frame. The shots that work are the front and rear three-quarters, which fit the diagonal, and interior shots, which are tall already. Full side profiles do not fit and get cropped. The price and the dealer card go in the middle of the frame, above the platform’s caption overlay.
Try it
Make a video from a car you are selling right now.
Year, make, model, mileage and price in one line. You can fix the details on the next page.