Event info
Vertical video is no longer a side channel
New Wildmoka data featured in the 2026 Iconik Media Stats Report makes that shift impossible to ignore. In 2025, vertical publishing grew 120% year over year, signaling a decisive move toward mobile-first distribution. Vertical video is no longer an experimental format layered onto existing workflows. It is becoming a core operational requirement for broadcasters and major media organizations.
What 5.7 million moments reveal about modern media
Following a record-setting 2024 driven by global elections and the FIFA World Cup, 2025 proved that demand for real-time content is not tied only to tentpole events. Using Wildmoka, media teams published more than 5.7 million clips and streamed 110,000 live sessions, generating over 1 million hours of video.
What stands out is not just the volume, but the consistency. Even without once-in-a-generation events, content creation continued to grow, with a steady 5% increase in created assets year over year. This points to a structural change in how audiences consume news, sports, and live moments—and how media organizations must respond.
Wildmoka, Backlight’s live video production and clipping platform, sits at the center of this shift, connecting live production directly to social and digital distribution. Increasingly, platforms like Iconik and Wildmoka must work together to support continuous publishing without fragmenting archives or slowing teams down.
Mobile-first workflows are reshaping formats
While 16:9 landscape still accounts for more than 90% of published clips, its lead is shrinking. The fastest growth is happening in mobile-native formats.
Wildmoka data shows:
- 9:16 video grew 117%, cementing its position as the dominant mobile format
- 4:5 video overtook 1:1, signaling the decline of square video
- Legacy mobile formats like 5:4 and 4:3 are fading as audiences expect immersive, full-screen experiences
This is not simply a formatting challenge. It is a workflow challenge. Creating vertical video at scale requires more than cropping horizontal footage. In 2025, customers began using Wildmoka’s Vertical Editor to design high-end vertical scenes with animated subtitles, optimized framing, and real-time speed.
The implication is clear: teams that treat vertical as an afterthought will struggle to keep up with those building mobile-first workflows from the ground up.
Where audiences are watching now
Distribution patterns reinforce this shift. While YouTube and Facebook both grew around 20%, the real momentum moved toward short-form, vertical platforms. TikTok usage surged by 150%, underscoring the importance of meeting audiences where they already are.
At the same time, many publishers increased file deposits into owned-and-operated platforms, OTT services, and MAM/DAM systems like Iconik. This dual strategy—publishing broadly while maintaining control of archives—highlights why tighter integration between media management and publishing tools matters more than ever.
Scaling real-time publishing for the biggest teams
The scale achieved by Wildmoka customers in 2025 shows what modern media operations look like in practice:
- 54 organizations published more than 1,000 videos per month
- 15 power publishers exceeded 10,000 videos every month
- One customer sustained a pace of 2,000 clips per day throughout the year
Behind those numbers are 8,300 active storytellers, working across organizations that range from lean teams to global operations with hundreds of users. The common thread is speed: the ability to turn live content into publishable moments without friction.
What this means heading into 2026
Wildmoka data from 2025 tells a clear story. Media organizations are moving beyond event-driven spikes toward always-on, mobile-first publishing. Vertical video is accelerating that transition, shrinking the distance between live production, publishing, and long-term media management.
The 2026 Iconik Media Stats Report pulls these insights together with broader trends across storage, formats, and workflows—drawing from nearly one billion assets managed in Iconik and real-world usage across global media teams.