The Washington Post launches new video player for continuous viewing while reading

The Washington Post has announced a new video player that allows for continuous video viewing while scrolling through an article page. The technology, built by The Post's engineering team, leverages the company's proprietary video platform first introduced in December 2014.

"We are always working to enrich the viewing experience, and as users multitask more and more, we wanted to give them an easy, flexible way to watch and read in any combination they would like," said Micah Gelman, director of video at The Post. "Our readers are in control – the video follows them down the page if they choose to start playing it."

When a user launches a video and starts to scroll through a story on desktop, the video player will move from the primary position to the lower corner of the screen. The video will then continue to follow users as they move down the page to read an article. If the user no longer wants to view the video, clicking on the x in the upper left corner of the player will pause the video and close the player.

The new video player is the latest collaboration between The Post's editorial and engineering teams intended to improve the viewing experience for Post readers. Other recent video innovations include the vertical video player, Your Three and FlexPlay.

The sticky video player was first available on The Post's politics story pages that feature video – as seen here – and will soon roll out across other sections of the site.