By India McCarty
Amazon Web Services just launched a new AI-powered vertical video tool to help Hollywood studios compete with other social media platforms.
“AWS Elemental Inference transforms how broadcasters, streamers, and video content owners reach audiences across every screen,” a statement from Amazon explained. “This fully managed AI service automatically converts single broadcasts into vertical content for any format — from traditional broadcast to mobile-first social platforms — without requiring AI expertise, dedicated production teams, or infrastructure management.”
AWS Elemental Inference is now available.
Create vertical video and highlight clips for TikTok, Instagram Reels, & YouTube Shorts automatically during live broadcasts.
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With AWS Elemental Inference, @NBCUniversal and @FOXSports deliver content for any platform in real time,… pic.twitter.com/9fD673NSHN
— Amazon Web Services (@awscloud) February 24, 2026
Regina Rossi, head of product for AWS Media Services, told The Hollywood Reporter that, by being able to make these verticals in real-time, rather than in post-production, “broadcasters can publish social-optimized clips and highlights while live events are still in progress — turning speed into a competitive advantage for audience engagement.”
“For vertical video creation specifically, we use fully managed foundation models optimized for video workloads, including capabilities for saliency mapping, object tracking, and speaker detection,” Rossi explained. “These models analyze each frame to identify subjects, track movement across scenes, and intelligently determine the right vertical placement — keeping athletes centered during plays, speakers in frame during interviews, and key action visible regardless of aspect ratio. We apply smoothing algorithms so the viewer experience feels natural, similar to a cameraman panning across a scene.”
Ricardo Perez-Selsky, senior director of digital production operations for Fox Sports, told THR that this “automatic vertical conversion is essential because the vast majority of Fox Sports Digital’s audience consumes content on mobile, within platforms built for vertical viewing.”
“By leveraging AWS technology, we can automatically reformat live action into optimized vertical highlights in near real time, dramatically accelerating turnaround,” he continued. “This allows us to scale premium, editorially sound content across Instagram, TikTok, YouTube Shorts, as well as our owned and operated platforms like the Fox Sports App and Fox One, without sacrificing quality. Going forward, this technology enables an always-on, faster, and more personalized highlight engine that meets fans wherever they watch.”
Perez-Selsky also spoke to Deadline, saying the AWS Elemental Inference tech can bring the turnaround time from 45 minutes to an hour down to less than 15 minutes.
“And that’s with a plussed-up storytelling aspect,” he said. “It’s automating what was a pretty tedious process of like keyframing 16×9 video to create 9×16 video.”
Amazon’s new AI-powered tech tool is the latest way streamers are attempting to compete with short-form video platforms like TikTok and Instagram Reels.
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