JWX launched Vertical Video on February 19, 2026, giving publishers a one-line JavaScript tool to create swipeable, social-like experiences on owned properties amid search traffic declines.
JWX, the video technology company formerly known as JW Player, on February 19, 2026, announced the launch of a product called Vertical Video, designed to let publishers embed swipeable, full-screen video feeds directly on their own websites. The announcement, made from New York, arrives at a moment when publishers are contending with declining search referrals and are actively searching for formats that keep audiences on-site rather than ceding attention to social platforms.
The product is, at its core, a format transplant. Publishers have watched younger audiences grow up scrolling through TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts, and have struggled to reproduce that consumption habit on their own properties. JWX's answer is a lightweight implementation: a single line of JavaScript that connects to a publisher's existing infrastructure without requiring engineering teams to overhaul the ad stack, modify content workflows, or undertake lengthy integration cycles, according to the company's announcement.
At launch, Vertical Video allows publishers that already produce vertical content - including clips originally made for social platforms - to repurpose that material into fully branded, natively monetized video experiences hosted on their own domains. Publishers retain control over the look, feel, and branding, with no dependency on third-party platform algorithms to distribute the content.
The technical implementation is intentionally minimal. According to JWX, the one-line JavaScript approach is a deliberate differentiator for technical buyers who want to launch without rebuilding workflows. That matters in an environment where engineering resources are constrained and publishers need to move quickly. The product also integrates with JWX's Strategy Rules feature, which allows A/B testing across vertical video and other formats. Through that tool, publishers can run data-driven optimization against core key performance indicators while keeping operations simple - running experiments without spinning up separate technical infrastructure for each test.
Dynamic content delivery and contextual advertising
Two capabilities underpin the product's monetization architecture. The first is Dynamic Content Delivery, which adapts video in real-time based on user behavior, location, and device type. The second is Contextual Advertising, which serves ads aligned with viewer interests and browsing patterns. Both are designed to make the inventory more valuable to advertisers without requiring publishers to disrupt their existing ad stack.
The product unlocks what JWX describes as additional advertising surfaces - new inventory positions that publishers can monetize without creating new workflows for content teams. For advertisers, the format offers a social-adjacent environment on premium publisher properties, potentially combining the engagement characteristics of vertical video with the brand-safety assurances of an editorially controlled site.
A significant practical challenge for publishers adopting vertical video is the format gap. Most news, sports, and entertainment publishers have deep archives of horizontal, 16:9 video. Reformatting that material for 9:16 vertical delivery has historically been slow and labor-intensive.
JWX addresses this through its acquisition of Augie, rebranded as JWX Studio. According to the company, this AI-assisted commercial video studio capability allows publishers to quickly transform existing long-form and horizontal content into vertical video experiences, extending the content's lifespan and reach. JWX has also signaled that it will soon give publishers the ability to generate vertical video directly from existing video libraries - a capability not yet available at launch but described as part of the company's broader vision of helping publishers do more with what they already have.
The Times-Picayune provided direct testimony on the implementation experience. "JWX is an indispensable partner as we continue to uncover new opportunities for engaging our audience, and Vertical Video is a great addition to their product portfolio," said Kyle Whitfield, Vice President of Consumer Revenue at The Times-Picayune. "Beyond its strategic value, Vertical Video has been remarkably easy to implement, helping us get more engaging content onto our site without slowing down our workflows."
The timing of the JWX launch reflects a structural crisis in digital publishing. Google Web Search traffic to news publishers declined from 51% to 27% between 2023 and the fourth quarter of 2025, according to NewzDash analysis of over 400 publishers worldwide. At the same time, Google Discover became the dominant traffic source for news organizations, accounting for roughly 68% of Google referrals - a concentration that creates acute vulnerability to algorithm changes.
That vulnerability became concrete in December 2025. Google's December 2025 core update triggered severe Discover traffic collapse for some publishers within 48 hours, with some operators reporting 70-85% declines in daily visitor counts during what is normally the peak revenue season of the year. For publishers who had spent years building Discover-dependent traffic strategies, the update was a sharp reminder of the risks of relying on a single external platform for audience distribution.
The broader trend extends beyond algorithm updates. Google's Network advertising revenue - the revenue share it passes to publishers through AdSense, AdMob, and Ad Manager - declined 1% to $7.4 billion in the second quarter of 2025, while YouTube advertising revenues grew 13% to $9.8 billion during the same period. The divergence illustrates a structural shift: attention and the revenue attached to it are migrating away from the open web and toward platform-controlled environments.
Publishers have been aware of this for some time. A survey of 50 U.S. and UK publishers conducted in July 2025 found that 84% could identify fewer than 25% of their website visitors, while 50% expressed moderate concern about AI-driven traffic reduction and 52% focused on engagement and community building as primary social media objectives.
JWX is not the first company to attempt to bring social-style vertical video to publisher sites. Outbrain launched a product called Moments in October 2024, which transforms static article pages into swipeable vertical video feeds in a manner similar to social media platforms. Media.net launched Bytes in November 2025, its own vertical video engagement and advertising solution for premium publishers on the open web, backed by survey data showing that 90% of U.S. consumers expressed openness to viewing short-form vertical video on publisher sites beyond social media.
The Media.net survey, which polled more than 1,000 U.S. consumers, found that 73% watch short-form video multiple times per day, with 81% viewing primarily on smartphones in vertical format. A separate finding - that 75% of consumers indicated they would stay longer on publisher sites featuring videos tailored to their interests - points to the engagement upside publishers are chasing with these products.
What JWX brings that differs from some competitors is its existing relationship with the publisher technology stack. As a video platform with roots going back to JW Player's founding in 2004, the company already serves a broad base of publishers across content management, video-on-demand delivery, and ad monetization. Vertical Video is therefore an extension of an existing commercial relationship rather than a new entry point, potentially lowering adoption friction for existing customers.
John Nardone, CEO of JWX, framed the product in terms of a fundamental shift in what publishers need to accomplish. "Publishers are grappling with a fundamental strategic shift as they move from simply attracting traffic to deeply engaging audiences across a fragmented landscape," said Nardone. "To succeed, publishers must reclaim the primary role of owning consumer attention and building habitual return behavior. Vertical Video helps them do this, by bringing a social-like experience to publishers' own properties, ensuring that audiences of all generations have the opportunity to deepen their relationship with content."
The phrase "habitual return behavior" is significant. Publishers that depend on search or social referrals acquire readers transactionally - a user arrives from a link, consumes content, and leaves without necessarily forming any ongoing connection with the publication. Vertical video, the argument goes, creates a feed-like environment that trains audiences to return directly, building the kind of habitual engagement that social platforms have cultivated over years.
Whether that theory holds at scale depends on factors beyond the technology itself. Publishers must have the content, the audience development infrastructure, and the advertising demand to make vertical surfaces commercially viable. JWX's pitch is that the technical barrier is now low enough that publishers can experiment without major commitment, using A/B testing through Strategy Rules to measure impact before making deeper investments.
The company positions Vertical Video as part of a broader orchestration layer under the banner of "Create Once, Adapt Everywhere" - a framework that connects content creation, distribution, audience engagement, and monetization within a single workflow. The acquisition of Aug X Labs, now JWX Studio, sits within that framework as the AI-powered content transformation layer that enables publishers to convert horizontal archives into vertical-ready material without rebuilding their production workflows.
For advertisers, the product represents an attempt to bring the performance characteristics of social vertical video - high attention, full-screen engagement, mobile-native format - into premium publisher environments. That combination, if it proves out in engagement data, could support higher CPMs and more sophisticated advertiser demand for media sponsorship products on publisher sites, at a time when news outlets like Time, CNN, and The New York Times have already been adding more vertical video to their sites and apps to meet advertiser expectations shaped by social media.
Who: JWX (formerly JW Player), a video technology company headquartered in New York, announced the product. Kyle Whitfield, Vice President of Consumer Revenue at The Times-Picayune, served as an early adopter and provided public testimony. John Nardone is the CEO of JWX.
What: The launch of a product called Vertical Video - a swipeable, social-like full-screen video experience that publishers can embed on their own websites using a single line of JavaScript. The product supports content repurposing from social platforms and existing horizontal archives, native monetization, contextual advertising, and A/B testing through JWX's Strategy Rules tool.
When: Announced on February 19, 2026, with content transformation capabilities through JWX Studio (formerly Augie) available at launch and direct vertical video generation from existing libraries planned for a future release.
Where: New York. The product is designed for deployment on publisher-owned websites globally, operating within a publisher's existing infrastructure without requiring tech stack changes.
Why: Publishers face structural decline in search referral traffic - Google Web Search traffic to news publishers fell from 51% to 27% between 2023 and 2025 - alongside unpredictable Discover algorithm changes. JWX argues publishers need to rebuild habitual audience relationships on owned properties rather than depending on external platforms, and that vertical video formats familiar from social media offer a route to deeper engagement and new advertising inventory surfaces.
