Twitch tells select viewers 'vertical video is here'

Nearly every tech company has launched vertical videos, imitating TikTok, the unequivocal leader in this space.

Twitch is the latest to do so. The Amazon-owned livestreaming service made an announcement about vertical video at TwitchCon earlier this year, and it's now officially testing this video format, according to market intelligence provider AppSensa. The firm discovered that Twitch is testing vertical videos, with a handful of references found in the app's code. Twitch is supposedly only testing the feature with a handful of streamers so far.

If users encounter the feature, they'll be shown dialogs declaring "vertical video is here" and told that this is still being tested. Users can decide whether to view streams in vertical format or in classic mode.

In a statement following TwitchCon, Twitch said that the new format will allow it to "better optimize the viewing experience for a device and how a viewer is using that device." The streaming service said that viewers on mobile can watch live streams vertically if they hold their phones that way.

"We really care about getting this right, so we’ll be testing dual-format streaming and the new vertical theater with a small number of channels this summer before slowly expanding to more users later this year," said the company.

With Twitch lagging behind the likes of TikTok and YouTube, this move marks its efforts to compete with other livestream platforms.