193. Does Vertical Video Really Perform Better on LinkedIn? The Data Says… Nope.

We’ve all heard it:

“Vertical video performs best on mobile.”
 “More screen space = more attention.”
 “That’s what everyone’s doing on TikTok, so it must work on LinkedIn too... right?”

Well, not so fast.

In this episode of The Standout Business Show, I’m breaking down a $140,000 ad experiment that might completely flip your video strategy on its head.

LinkedIn ad expert AJ Wilcox and video producer Chandler Quinton ran controlled A/B tests across vertical, square, and horizontal video formats — and the results?
 Let’s just say vertical isn’t the star of the show.

We’re diving into:

• The surprising format that outperformed all others (yes, even on mobile!)
• Why horizontal video might actually help you stand out as an expert on LinkedIn
• The design psychology and behavior cues that affect content performance
• How to repurpose your most valuable video content for maximum impact
• And why following video trends can sometimes damage your authority

Resources

If you’ve been stuck repurposing content in formats that aren’t delivering — or chasing trends that don’t align with how you want to show up — this episode is your permission to do things differently (and smarter).

🎯 Want help showing up with content that actually builds your authority?
Book a free video brand assessment at micdrop.video — and let’s make your next video unforgettable.

Is Vertical Video Best? Here's the full episode from The LinkedIn Ads Show podcast with AJ Wilcox & Chandler Quentin

Ready to turn your expertise into visibility and demand—without feeding the content machine?

📞 Schedule your FREE “Standout On Video” call here: standoutcall.com

Because when you start showing up with clarity, confidence, and the right content—your ideal clients won't just notice you. They'll choose you.

Thanks for tuning in. If you found this episode helpful, share it with another expert entrepreneur who’s ready to stop blending in.

Episode Transcript

Brad Powell (00:06):
You've probably heard it.
You might even believe itVertical video performs best on
LinkedIn Because, hey, 80% ofLinkedIn's traffic is on mobile
right and vertical takes up morespace on the screen, right.
It all makes perfect senseuntil you actually test it.

(00:27):
In today's episode, we'rediving into a $140,000
experiment that puts thisassumption to the test once and
for all.
Vertical versus square versushorizontal, which one performs
best?
Which one gets watched more,completed more and costs you

(00:51):
less to run LinkedIn ad guy AJWilcox teamed up with video
producer Chandler Quinton topull the data from some of the
video campaigns that they wererunning together, and what they
found might just flip yourcontent strategy upside down.
In fact, what if I told you thatvertical video was the worst

(01:14):
performer?
Stick around, because in thisepisode we're busting one of the
biggest myths in videomarketing.
Let's get into it.
Myths in video marketing let'sget into it.
Welcome to the StandoutBusiness Show.
I'm your host, brad Powell, andthis is the show for expert
business leaders who are makinga bigger difference by doing

(01:37):
business differently.
So here's the belief that we'vebeen sold.
Everyone assumes vertical isbest because of mobile.
So, okay, we live in a mobilefirst world.
A lot of content comes throughmobile.
Most of the people are watchingon a mobile device.

(01:57):
If you have a vertical video,it's going to fill the screen,
it's going to take up more space, which means that, according to
this assumption, it's going tobe more attention grabbing and
maybe even compel people to stayand watch longer.
So it's got to be better thanhorizontal, right?

(02:17):
I mean, after all, horizontalis smaller and it's harder to
see and it doesn't grab yourattention as much.
But as a videographer, I'veactually always liked horizontal
best.
I mean, we do live in awidescreen world, but very
reluctantly I have changed overto using vertical video once the

(02:39):
format spread across socialmedia.
I've been doing it for myclients and I've seen plenty of
vertical video perform well onall the different platforms, and
so I had settled for the ideathat horizontal video use might
be over in terms of social media.
But this is why I found thisexperiment so intriguing,

(03:00):
because it's showing that morescreen space does not
necessarily equal moreperformance.
So here's what the experimentlooked like.
So there's these two guys.
One of them is AJ Wilcox and heruns a LinkedIn ad agency and

(03:21):
he's been doing millions ofdollars worth of ads on LinkedIn
for his clients over the lastseveral years and a video
marketing agency owner namedChandler Quinton, and he has a
very unique offering in that hedoesn't just make you a video
for your ads, he does a wholesuite of videos in various

(03:44):
formats.
And so when a client comes tohim and they make video content,
what they end up with is awhole set of videos that are in
all the different formatsvertical, square and horizontal.
They were perfectly positionedwhen they started working
together, in that Chandler wasmaking videos for clients and

(04:05):
then he was turning them over toAJ and saying here, run these
as ads.
And so AJ was working on fourdifferent accounts and he was
spending real money over thefour accounts and over the
campaigns that they were running.
They spent over $140,000.
And he did some very controlledA-B testing across the

(04:28):
different formats.
The same content was beingtested in horizontal and in
square and in vertical and, muchto their surprise, horizontal
was the top performer and squarewas kind of in the middle and
vertical was the clear loser.
In fact, chandler was sayingthat horizontal performed four

(04:52):
to five times better thanvertical video, which, when you
take a look at actually spendingmoney on an ad campaign, can,
just by changing the format,make your content the same
content, perform much better andreach more people and actually
get more views, more watch timeand more click throughs.

(05:14):
You're actually going to besaving a whole bunch of money.
So the takeaway here is thateverybody has been following the
trend of seeing vertical videodo well on TikTok and it's so
immediately saying well, weshould do this on YouTube and
Twitter and Facebook andLinkedIn.
I mean, of course it's gonnawork great on all these other
platforms, right?
And guess what?

(05:36):
It's not necessarily true.
And of course, I wanna say thatthis matters even if you're not
doing any ads and you're justdoing organic video.
Many expert entrepreneurs havebeen using vertical video
because they've been told thatit works best and it's
especially been good forrepurposing you know, from a

(05:58):
podcast or repurposing from morelong-form video.
But here's my theory aboutwhat's happening on LinkedIn,
and that is user behavior plusthe way the platform is designed
actually still favorshorizontal.
I think there's a bit of aYouTube effect, in the sense
that a lot of users on LinkedInare used to watching videos on

(06:22):
YouTube and they're used to amore professional style of
presentation, which means thatthe kind of video that does well
on, say, tiktok, which isfilled with graphics and jumpy
cuts and a lot of sensationalimagery.
It just doesn't feel as realand genuine as what people are

(06:44):
looking for on the LinkedInplatform.
Horizontal feels more like areal presentation, whereas
vertical is more social mediaoriented, it's more casual and
it's less expert driven.
If you want to be seen as thego-to expert, the format that
you should choose should matchyour authority and, of course,

(07:07):
you can stand out here by goingagainst the grain, by going
against the trend thateveryone's been following.
Standing out often means doingwhat others aren't doing, like,
in this case, using horizontalvideo.
When everyone else is usingvertical video Right now,
horizontal video could becomethe bold move on LinkedIn.

(07:29):
The thing that I like abouthorizontal video is that it's
actually easier to produce andor reproduce.
So think about when you're on aZoom call.
Think about when you're a gueston a podcast.
Think about all the clientmeetings that you have, when
you're expressing your bestthoughts and your best insights

(07:49):
and you're telling your stories,and you're absolutely in that
zone of genius where you feelcompletely comfortable and at
ease with the ideas that youhave to share and the things
that you believe in and what youstand for all of that
expression.
Well, that material can becaptured simply by recording
those times when you are inthese different kinds of

(08:11):
settings and then you can takethat in its beautiful horizontal
format now and share that as adaily post on LinkedIn.
And if you've taken the time toset yourself up in your home
office studio where you're welllit and you look good and you
have a good microphone and youhave a good camera, then people

(08:33):
are going to start seeing you inthis professional setting, and
so being different thoughtfullyis what's going to get you
noticed, and not necessarilyfollowing the latest trend.
And this is exactly why my MicDrop Moments method is designed
the way it is.
The videos that we createtogether are crafted not to go

(08:55):
viral but to build trust andauthority, and when we're
recording together, we areactually recording in horizontal
format, and then I can takethat and turn that into multiple
different formats.
So in this case, they'll have ahorizontal on LinkedIn,
horizontal on YouTube andvertical format on platforms
like Facebook and Instagram andTikTok.

(09:17):
And I'm a firm believer thatcreating content that works
doesn't require more effort, itjust requires a smarter system.
So if you've been stuckrepurposing content in formats
that aren't working for you.
So if you've been stuckrepurposing content in formats
that aren't working for you, orif you've been chasing trends
that don't actually align withhow you want to show up, then it

(09:41):
might be time to rethink yourvideo strategy, which is exactly
what we do inside my Mic DropMoments method.
We'll create high-authoritycontent and in just one hour a
month, you can show uppowerfully with video that works
for you.
So if you want help making thatshift, head to micdropvideo to

(10:05):
book a free video brandassessment and let's make your
next video unforgettableunforgettable.
And that's it for today'sepisode of the Standout Business
Show.
Thanks for listening.
If you found this episodehelpful, don't forget to

(10:31):
subscribe and share it with afriend, because the number one
way that people find out about apodcast like this one is
because they heard about it fromone of their friends.
Remember, keep making a biggerdifference by doing business
differently.
And until next time, so long.