本文为原文前 6,000 字符的节选翻译，完整内容请查看原文。

Vurt wants you to look at vertical videos as a genre of their own

Vurt 押注垂直娱乐的下一个大事件将发生在宽屏电视上。

From Disney Plus to HBO Max, almost every major established streaming service is experimenting with ways to get into vertical content. It’s clear that these companies see video-focused social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram as existential threats. In this arms race for viewers’ attention, it has often felt like everyone is trying to find new ways to exist on people’s phones. But a new startup thinks that the next step in vertical series’ evolution is going to take place on our wide-screen televisions.

从 Disney Plus 到 HBO Max，几乎每一家主流流媒体服务商都在尝试涉足垂直内容领域。显而易见，这些公司将 TikTok 和 Instagram 等以视频为核心的社交媒体平台视为生存威胁。在这场争夺观众注意力的军备竞赛中，人们往往感觉每个人都在试图寻找在手机上生存的新方式。但一家初创公司认为，垂直剧集演进的下一步将发生在我们的宽屏电视上。

Unlike most vertical microdrama / series streaming platforms on the market that have focused on mobile viewing experiences, Vurt has been making a pivot into smart TVs. The company recently launched dedicated apps for Apple TV and Android TV that give users access to 3,500 episodes across more than 100 different shows. Since launching in March, Vurt’s userbase has grown from 10,000 to 675,000 users.

与市场上大多数专注于移动端观看体验的垂直微短剧/剧集流媒体平台不同，Vurt 一直在向智能电视转型。该公司最近推出了适用于 Apple TV 和 Android TV 的专用应用程序，用户可以观看 100 多部不同剧集的 3,500 集内容。自 3 月份推出以来，Vurt 的用户群已从 10,000 人增长到 675,000 人。

Vurt primarily features the kind of soapy, melodramatic microdramas that have made rival services like DramaBox and ReelShort popular. But whereas those platforms have become inundated with AI-generated slop, the vast majority of Vurt’s series are produced with human casts and crews. And because Vurt monetizes its content through ad partnerships, viewers can watch all of it for free instead of dealing with convoluted microtransactions.

Vurt 主要提供那种让 DramaBox 和 ReelShort 等竞争对手走红的肥皂剧式、情节剧式的微短剧。但与那些充斥着人工智能生成的劣质内容的平台不同，Vurt 的绝大多数剧集都是由真人演职人员制作的。而且由于 Vurt 通过广告合作实现内容变现，观众可以免费观看所有内容，而不必处理复杂的微交易。

When I spoke with Vurt cofounder / angel investor Hilmon Sorey this week, he told me that the company’s big push into dedicated TV apps was driven by direct feedback from users. People wanted a way to beam verticals they were already watching via their phones onto bigger screens, but Vurt’s development team thought that they could take things a step further.

本周，当我与 Vurt 的联合创始人兼天使投资人 Hilmon Sorey 交谈时，他告诉我，该公司大力进军专用电视应用程序是受用户直接反馈的推动。人们希望有一种方法可以将他们在手机上观看的垂直视频投射到更大的屏幕上，但 Vurt 的开发团队认为他们可以更进一步。

“At first, we first developed the ability for folks to cast to smart TVs,” Sorey said. “But we decided that wasn’t the best experience because we could leverage all of the technology in those large-screen devices to bring features like HD / 4K video, and the ability to do really high-quality audio.”

“起初，我们先开发了让用户投屏到智能电视的功能，”Sorey 说。“但我们认为那不是最好的体验，因为我们可以利用这些大屏设备中的所有技术来提供高清/4K 视频等功能，以及实现高质量音频的能力。”

To build out its library, Vurt signs licensing agreements with production studios and creators that gives them a 50/50 revenue split. Independent creators can directly submit their projects for distribution on the platform, and once approved, it can be available to stream in just a few days. Sorey said that being fair to creators and taking cues from them are core tenets of Vurt’s corporate philosophy. He also pointed to Vurt’s decision to rely on a “free-to-finish” model as the main way it works to be fair to its users.

为了扩充其内容库，Vurt 与制作工作室和创作者签署了许可协议，给予他们 50/50 的收入分成。独立创作者可以直接提交他们的项目在平台上发行，一旦获得批准，只需几天时间即可上线播放。Sorey 表示，公平对待创作者并听取他们的意见是 Vurt 企业哲学的核心原则。他还指出，Vurt 决定采用“免费看完”模式，这是其公平对待用户的主要方式。

“If you are a platform that’s doing your own original content and you don’t have creators to pay, then ‘give us $20 and we’ll give you 500 coffee beans’ kind of gamification is intentional,” Sorey insisted. “It’s a ruse that they can use to boggle your mind because they control that entire content ecosystem.”

“如果你是一个制作原创内容的平台，而且不需要向创作者支付费用，那么‘给我们 20 美元，我们就给你 500 个咖啡豆’这种游戏化手段就是故意的，”Sorey 坚持认为。“这是一种用来迷惑你的诡计，因为他们控制了整个内容生态系统。”

Vurt’s foray onto televisions is coming at a time when more established vertical-focused platforms have been looking into ways to exist beyond people’s phones. This past June, Instagram beefed up its TV app to include Reels, disappearing Stories, and horizontally oriented videos — all of which felt like attempts at keeping pace with YouTube. Vurt told me that the company is staying focused on vertical content, but is currently developing new kinds of programming like original series and livestreamed sporting events.

Vurt 进军电视领域之际，更多成熟的垂直领域平台一直在寻求超越手机的生存方式。今年 6 月，Instagram 加强了其电视应用程序，加入了 Reels、阅后即焚的 Stories 和横向视频——所有这些都感觉像是为了跟上 YouTube 的步伐。Vurt 告诉我，该公司仍专注于垂直内容，但目前正在开发原创剧集和体育赛事直播等新型节目。

In the buildup to launching its TV apps, Vurt consulted content creators about how they like to watch films and TV shows. Many reported preferring viewing things in movie theaters or on big screens because of how immersive those experiences felt. But according to Sorey, the creators also insisted that vertical microdramas can feel just as engaging whether they’re watched on a phone with earbuds in or on a television screen.

在推出电视应用程序的筹备过程中，Vurt 咨询了内容创作者他们喜欢如何观看电影和电视节目。许多人表示更喜欢在电影院或大屏幕上观看，因为这些体验感觉非常沉浸。但据 Sorey 说，创作者们也坚持认为，无论是在戴着耳机的手机上观看，还是在电视屏幕上观看，垂直微短剧都能带来同样引人入胜的体验。

“You can have a different kind of immersive experience — even on a wide screen in vertical format — because verticals tell their stories in a very different way,” Sorey said. “You’ve got to have your hook to begin and at the tail end of that, you’ve got to thrust them into the next episode by virtue of a cliffhanger.”

“即使在宽屏的垂直格式下，你也能获得一种不同的沉浸式体验，因为垂直视频讲述故事的方式非常不同，”Sorey 说。“你必须在开头设置悬念，并在结尾处通过扣人心弦的情节将观众推向下一集。”

Sorey believes that the stylistic elements vertical microdramas have become known for — formulaic plots, questionable acting, and exceedingly short episodes — make them a specific kind of entertainment that’s distinct from traditional TV shows and films. Those qualities are what tend to make some people see vertical content as unwatchable, but they also seem to be part of what’s keeping Vurt’s users engaged. Sorey says that Vurt has seen overall engagement time increase for viewers using the company’s TV apps. That’s likely because those viewers have a convenient way to consume Vurt’s content without having to pick up their phones.

Sorey 认为，垂直微短剧所为人熟知的风格元素——公式化的情节、令人质疑的演技以及极短的剧集——使它们成为一种不同于传统电视节目和电影的特定娱乐形式。这些特质往往让一些人认为垂直内容无法观看，但它们似乎也是让 Vurt 用户保持参与感的一部分。Sorey 表示，使用该公司电视应用程序的观众的整体参与时间有所增加。这很可能是因为这些观众有了一种无需拿起手机就能方便地消费 Vurt 内容的方式。

Though a service like Vurt might make sense for people already hooked on microdramas, what’s far less clear is whether there’s really a broader appetite for vertical videos flanked by blank spaces. With so many other platforms experimenting with ways to turn everything into endless feeds of vertical videos, though, Vurt may be on to something.

虽然像 Vurt 这样的服务对于已经沉迷于微短剧的人来说可能很有意义，但更不清楚的是，人们是否真的对两侧留白的垂直视频有更广泛的胃口。不过，随着许多其他平台都在尝试将一切转化为无尽的垂直视频流，Vurt 可能确实发现了一些门道。