Vertical Video Stories Turns Social Traffic Into On-Site Attention for Public Sénat.

+70%

Of mobile users keep their phone upright

Measured improvements across the viewing journey

Horizontal video replaced. Vertical was added alongside it

Public Sénat’s short-form clips performed well on social and then lost people at the door. By deploying Vertical Video Stories on its own properties, the French parliamentary channel closed the gap between how audiences discover its journalism and how they actually watch it.

The challenge

When strong editorial loses to a narrow band of video

Public Sénat exists to make parliamentary life, civic education and democratic transparency accessible. For public service media, engagement is not the goal in itself. It is the mechanism by which information gets understood and retained, which makes early drop-off an editorial failure rather than a metric problem.

A review of digital performance surfaced four priorities, all pointing at mobile. Around 70% of mobile users keep their phone upright, so horizontal video arrives as a narrow band across the middle of the screen, adding friction and accelerating exits. Short-form was performing on social but that success was not converting into sustained on-site viewing. And repurposing editorial into vertical assets needed somewhere purpose-built for those segments to actually perform.

The strategy

A scroll-first feed built for continuity, not imitation

Public Sénat deployed Vertical Video Stories, a scrollable format designed to increase continuity, reduce abandonment and strengthen on-site engagement. The design principle matters more than the format. VVS is built around continuity rather than around looking like a social app. Instead of dropping vertical video into a static page, it delivers a scroll-first progression that sustains attention and pulls viewers deeper into the catalogue. The stated objective inside Public Sénat was natural captivation, keeping audiences within its own ecosystem to improve information outcomes, and explicitly not a visual imitation of social media interfaces. Delivery was turnkey. Professional Services handled the work end to end, from development through to maintenance, which shortened time to market and kept the Public Sénat team on editorial programming rather than platform build.

1
Own vertical performance
2
Convert social discovery
3
Drive continuity
4
Mobile-native experience

5
Repurpose faster
6
Turnkey delivery

“It is also an innovation that naturally strengthens retention on our site. Using the player feels perfectly natural, and it fits seamlessly into people’s consumption habits.”

Thomas Bourgeois-Muller, Director of Digital, Public Sénat

The results

Ahead of market benchmarks on every measure that mattered

VVS improved the mobile experience without replacing horizontal video, adding a vertical format optimised for the way phones are actually held. On-site navigation became more intuitive, with a continuous flow carrying audiences from one story to the next rather than returning them to a static page after every clip. Story-led vertical packaging increased cross-channel discoverability while keeping a clear route back into Public Sénat’s editorial environment. Fragmented sessions gave way to continuous viewing, reducing bounce and extending engagement across more content. Most importantly for a public service broadcaster, short vertical assets now work as a gateway rather than an endpoint. They capture attention quickly, then guide audiences toward the longer formats and the context that parliamentary coverage requires.

+70%

Of mobile users keep their phone upright

Measured improvements across the viewing journey

Horizontal video replaced. Vertical was added alongside it

missing

Why this matters for public service media

Public Sénat shows that vertical video and editorial depth are not opposing choices.

Engagement is the mechanism, not the goal

For public service media, attention is what allows information to be understood and retained. Drop-off is an editorial problem before it is a metric.

Match the device, not the platform

Adopting vertical because that is how phones are held is a usability decision. Copying social interfaces wholesale is not.

Vertical as a gateway to depth

Short clips capture attention quickly, then route audiences into the longer context that serious subjects demand.

Key Takeaways

Add vertical, do not replace horizontal
Both formats have a job. Public Sénat kept the existing library intact.
Fix the arrival, not just the discovery
Social performance is wasted if the on-site experience loses people immediately.

Design for continuity
Scroll-first progression is what turns one view into a session.
Keep the team on editorial
Turnkey delivery meant the newsroom never became a build team.