Is TikTok positioning itself to reward creators more in line with the horizontal display format?

The app that made full-screen vertical videos so the rage is now apparently nudging some of its most creative users toward horizontally shot content, screenshots posted by a few users suggest.

TikTok is giving some creators "more views" on content shot in landscape format.

Here's what TikTok says:

"Landscape videos over 1 minute that have a width greater than the height are the only ones eligible for these increased views."

Videos meeting these qualifications will be boosted in the app for 72 hours, providing one really enticing posting incentive for TikTok creators aiming to get more visibility within the app.

But interestingly, this also flips the switch on the traditional focus of TikTok.

As discussed above, vertical video is TikTok's core product and the fact that popularity for that format in an app has compelled virtually every other social app to be similar in that regard and at least test their own vertical, full-screen video display options has resulted in major growth for video engagement in other apps, so it is strange why TikTok would now be looking to leave that.

But again, this is unlikely to be TikTok diverting away from its core format, as such, but rather a push to expand its content types, which it's also been trying to do via its Creativity Program in encouraging creators to post longer videos, in different styles and formats, in order to expand its content pool.

Worth noting, too that TikTok added a mention of "landscape format" to its "Best Content Formats" listing on the overview page of its Creativity Program last fall.

TikTok's also testing out 30-minute videos as an additional ingredient and possibly in this case landscape videos just are an additional input into this growth engine as the app searches to make itself accessible to even more people and spice things up for that matter.

It just seems odd that it would be looking to get users to turn their device, because presumably you'd also have to turn your phone back around again as you scrolled.

Or maybe, if TikTok could get enough landscape clips in the app, it could offer a dedicated stream of landscape-only content and then new trends and opportunities could develop from there.

Perhaps, too, TikTok is preparing for the day when viewing starts taking place in headsets, where landscape content would make more sense.

We've contacted TikTok for further information on this experiment and will update this post if/when we hear back.