Takaomi Saegusa: Putting Video in the Palm of Your Hand

2021/10/12

"Why vertical video?"

Six years ago, when I founded a video distribution company called C Channel, this was the question I was asked most often. Since the dawn of cinema, it has been common sense that video is viewed on a "horizontal screen."

Until then, I had worked at Nippon Television Network for 25 years, launching numerous television programs including variety shows, dramas, and news programs.

Around 2011, when I launched the morning news program "ZIP!" as the person in charge, the rapid spread of smartphones and changes in technology seemed both threatening and fascinating to me as a TV professional.

"From now on, we might be entering an era where people carry video around with them." Based on that intuition, we took segments from "ZIP!" such as "MOCO'S Kitchen" and distributed them online immediately after the broadcast. This was so people could watch the continuation of what they saw at home while commuting to work or school. Initially, I faced fierce opposition from both inside and outside the company, but I felt that we were no longer in an era where people only interacted with TV programs through broadcasting. Eventually, I decided to launch a venture company for watching video on smartphones.

C Channel is the video version of a women's magazine. At first, it was a series of struggles. Viewership didn't grow, and we were in a state where the company could have collapsed at any time; I was exhausted both mentally and physically.

In the midst of that, we found a gold mine: fast-forward videos of "hair arrangements" and "cooking." Magazines cannot express the "process." Videos are overwhelmingly easier to understand when showing the steps of cooking or the process of styling hair. In 2017, our numbers surged to 600 million views worldwide.

Smartphones are vertical because they are designed to fit in the hand. The human body is also vertical. The reason the Mona Lisa and Ukiyo-e are "vertical" is that the format is more compatible with representing people. For a service that creates content centered on women's lifestyles, the vertical format fit perfectly, and after that, not a single person asked the question I mentioned at the beginning.

Looking back now in 2021, I frequently see people watching videos on their smartphones around town.

Content and technology have always had a chicken-and-egg relationship. Since the Lumière brothers first screened a film in Paris, these two have developed while chasing each other.

From now on, every time a new technology is born, new content will likely be created. However, whether that technology captures people's hearts at that time depends on the content. I believe that imagination is the foundation of creation.