Vertical Video, wrong, or different?

Prior to working at videofrog, I did a shoot where I was the camera person, and I had to use my phone, it was the ‘style’ we were going for…

videofrog, however, insisted that on no account should I shoot the video vertically, pretty much on pain on death.

The footage I was shooting was being edited in a standard ratio video format, so yes, maybe I was right to be reminded that horizontal is best! But maybe there is a place for vertical video.

Last summer on Vimeo they ran one of their weekend challenges to be vertical video based on the increasing rise, and backlash against, the format.

Some of them are amazing, and the vertical element has been developed and used to its full advantage, this is the winner;

Given the already large range of aspect ratios, why should vertical (9:16) be so awful? Is it because people perceive it as just laziness? Or maybe it is because it is shifting away from convention, and people watch more and more content on their smartphones?