Tag: 360-degree video

What Marketers Can Learn From VR Developments At Sundance

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Starting last year, the Sundance Film Festival has attracted and showcased the best and newest in virtual reality (VR) content with its New Frontier show. This year, the Utah-based festival featured over 30 VR-related content and experiences, and together they point to the way that content creators are exploring the possibilities of storytelling in virtual reality.

For example, 6×9 offers an immersive experience of solitary confinement to spark debate on prison reform, while Kiya recreates the circumstances of a 911 call, leveraging the empathy-inducing power of VR experiences to shine a light on domestic abuse. On a lighter side, Oculus Story Studio previewed Dear Angelica, a dreamy experience created in virtual reality using Quill, a VR illustration tool developed by Oculus. It is not fully interactive as VR games are, but allows viewers to examine different parts of a scene and move between scenes at their own pace, hence creating a unique experience for each individual viewer.

What Brands Need To Do
Overall, the new VR content that appeared at Sundance this year signals the continued diversification and maturing of VR content development, making it less of a tech novelty and more of a nascent medium to experiment with. Besides, virtual reality content should also get a boost from the proliferation of 360-degree cameras we saw at this year’s CES while companies like Facebook and YouTube have started making a push for spherical videos.

For brands, this should come as a harbinger for the vast potential of branded VR content. Instead of just transporting traditional video content into VR, brands should work closely with content creators to tap into the immersive and empathic power of VR to craft unique narratives to engage consumers with.

 

Source: The Verge

You Can Now Watch Jeopardy And The Lion King In 360-Degree Videos

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Following Facebook adding support for 360-degree videos in its iOS app last week, the VR-lite format continues to gain momentum in mainstream media. One of the longest-running game shows, Jeopardy, has announced its plan to create its own 360-degree video, which will let viewers experience the last five minutes of its Tournament of Champions as if they were on set. Similarly, popular Broadway musical The Lion King also created a short 360-degree VR experience which will let viewers watch the opening number from a front seat.

What Brands Need To Do
Considering that the median viewer age of Jeopardy is over 60, it seems safe to assume that the majority of the show’s audience won’t be too familiar with 360-degree videos, and that the show is aiming to attract a younger audience with this move. Along with The Lion King, this example shows that this kind of VR-lite 360-degree interactive video is rapidly becoming an entry point for marketers and media owners to experiment with virtual reality technologies. Some early-adopting brands, such as Marriott Hotel and Target, are already dabbling in producing their own branded VR content. And if Jeopardy can try it, so can your brand.

 

Source: AdAge and Wired

Facebook Adds 360-Degree Video Ads And Expands To iOS

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
In September, Facebook leveraged Oculus’ VR technology to bring 360-degree video support to its news feed in desktop web and Android app, and now it’s bringing those interactive spherical videos to iOS. The technology allows users to change viewing perspective by tilting their iPhones and turning around. Facebook is also opening up the format to advertisers, with the first batch of “immersive stories” coming from AT&T, Corona, Nescafe, Ritz Crackers, Samsung and Walt Disney World.

What Brands Need To Do
When Facebook first introduced spherical videos to its news feed, we expected Facebook to open this video format to branded content soon, which is now confirmed with those aforementioned “branded stories.” Distributing your branded VR-style videos through Facebook can help attract an audience seeking new media experiences and engage them with the added interactivity. For brands looking to stay ahead of the curve, now would be the time to start building a library of 360-degree content that is accessible across devices.

 

Source: TechCrunch

Header image is a promotional image courtesy of Facebook

MTV To Live Stream EMAs In 360-Degree Videos

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
MTV is ready to push deeper into immersive videos and plans to live stream the entirety of its upcoming Europe Music Awards (EMA) this Sunday. Fans can stream the 360-degree live feed with the MTV mobile app, or even turn it into a VR experience if they happen to have a Google Cardboard headset.

Market Impact
As a youth culture-oriented brand, MTV is no stranger to live streaming. Earlier this year, the network live streamed the red carpet portion of the VMAs with 360-degree VR technology. In addition, it also used popular video social network Vine to capture and spread the viral moments of the VMAs. Its willingness to experiment with new technologies and embrace emerging media platforms makes it stand out in today’s media landscape, and other brands, especially those wishing to reach a younger audience, should follow suit.

 

Source: The Verge

Facebook Works With Oculus To Bring 360-Degree Videos To News Feed

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Facebook has officially announced it is rolling out 360-degree videos in News Feed, in partnership with Oculus, the virtual reality company it acquired last year for $2 billion. The launch features content from six partners including Star Wars, GoPro, Vice, and SNL. Last week, news broke that Facebook was reportedly developing a separate app for 360-degree videos, which may still be in the pipeline, but for now,Facebook has made good on its promise from this summer’s developer conference to include 360 video in the News Feed.

What Brands Need To Do
As of now, Facebook is only allowing brands to post spherical video clips organically to their pages, but given Facebook’s heavy push with autoplay videos, it seems safe to assume that Facebook will package 360-degree videos into ads soon. We expect VR to be a niche market in 2016 in the same way that smartphones were a niche market in 2007, but building a library of 360 content which is accessible across devices will allow brands to stay ahead of the curve.  

For more VR news coming out of this week’s Oculus Connect 2 conference, follow our coverage here.

    

Source: AdWeek

Discovery Channel Plays With Sharks In Virtual Reality Shorts

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Discovery Channel is dipping its toes into the uncharted water of virtual reality and 360-degree spherical video as it announced the launch of its virtual-reality platform, Discovery VR on Friday. The cable channel will kick things off with a series of short-form VR videos that invite viewers to swim with sharks as part of its hit show Mythbusters. Other nature-focused VR shorts are also reportedly in development.

What Brands Should Do
Virtual reality holds great potential as an immersive media platform for brands to fully engage their audience with innovative, branded experiences. The lack of quality content has been hindering VR from mainstream consumer adoption. In recent months, however, a slew of media owners and brands have started creating original VR content, including Facebook, BBC, Birchbox, and major Hollywood studios.Therefore, it is important for brands seeking to immersively engage with its audience to create branded VR content sooner than later.

Source: AdWeek

How To Keep Up With YouTube’s New Vertical & Spherical Video Formats

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
YouTube has been making strides in expanding beyond the traditional horizontal videos in the past few months, adding support for new video formats, such as mobile-originated vertical videos and VR-derived 360-degree spherical videos. This week, YouTube further integrates the new formats by allowing full-screen vertical video viewing in its Android mobile app, as well as adding support for 360-degree videos to TrueView video ad platform, part of Google’s AdWords products.

What Brands Should Do
These two new formats are slowly gaining legitimacy as they incorporate viewing experiences native to the mobile and VR devices across platforms, which in turn can lead to better ad performances. For instance, Snapchat claims that vertical video ads are viewed completely nine times more frequently than horizontal ones, while YouTube reports that 360-degree videos can “deliver higher levels of consumer engagement than traditional video ads” with the added interactivity. Brands and marketers need to start experimenting with these new formats to keep up with the evolving digital video landscape and tailor content for the mobile-first consumers today. Don’t be the last content producer forcing users to use two hands to view your content.

 

Update 7/24: YouTube has updated its iOS mobile app to add support for vertical video fullscreen display as well.

 

Source: The Next Web & Marketing Land