Tags containing: "virtual reality"

The future of media will be personal, according to PwC

June 12, 2019 Rande Price, Research VP – DCN

Consumer interaction on digital platforms is a key driver of revenue for entertainment and media companies. With increasing affordability and availability of broadband, mobile continues to be a strong contributor to the growth of this segment. However, according to the new PwC’s Global Entertainment & Media Outlook 2019–2023 Report, further innovation and personalization will significantly change how we access and use the Internet.

PwC predicts that creative new offerings and business models will increasingly revolve around people’s personal preferences. New applications will involve artificial intelligence in combination with digital assistants. Media companies will strive to build products that empower consumers to set their individual preferences and curate their own context.

The PwC Outlook Report cites personalization as a central theme in overall entertainment and media revenue growth. Global spending is expected to rise 4.3% over the next five years, with revenues hitting $2.6 trillion in 2023. The report provides a strong and notable resource for revenue estimates in the both the US and global markets.I

Additional forecasts from PwC’s Outlook Report include:

Subscription TV revenue in the U.S. will experience a 2.9% CAGR (compound annual growth rate) decline to from $94.6 billion in 2018 to $81.8 billion in 2023. Much of the loss comes from cord-cutting and SVOD competition. Interestingly, the US remains the biggest Pay-TV market accounting for 46% of the total global revenue in 2018.
SVOD’s continues its popularity as more streaming services are introduced and unbundling continues to grow. Newcomers to the market will need to differentiate themselves to attract subscribers.
The OTT market is also dominated by the U.S., contributing to more than half (55.6%) of global OTT revenue in 2018. OTT video revenue in the US reached $14.5 billion in 2018 and is set to double by 2023.
The U.S. virtual reality (VR) market registered $934 million in revenue in 2018 and is expected to grow at a 16.6% CAGR to reach S$2 billion by 2023. Gaming remains the primary application of VR, accounting for 57.4% of total VR revenue in the US in 2018. VR video, however, will see the most growth in the forecast period, climbing at a CAGR of 22.4% to reach $861 million in 2023.

There’s an important effort in today’s entertainment and media marketplace to meet consumers where they spend their time and to deliver what they need wherever they are. These sorts of personalization efforts cut across OTT, SVOD, and VR. While evolving business models around customer behavior is far from new, the renewed focus amplifies the importance of placing consumers at the center of the media experience.

Innovation

With HP’s entrance, the commercial VR market solidifies

August 1, 2017 Jan Ozer—Independent Technology Journalist

Some have dismissed VR as yet another overhyped technology category that will never achieve those prized hockey-stick sales projections. And let’s face it: Many consumers ignore it completely as solely for gamers. HPs recent entry into what it calls “commercial VR” may signal a new class of applications that could convince consumers to give VR another look. It should also inspire a raft of experimentation from a wide range of industries. At HP’s announcement at SIGGRAPH, HP’s partners used VR for applications as varied as creating immersive consumer and marketing experiences, to training and simulation, to curing PTSD.

HP’s announcement had three key elements. Most significant is the introduction of the HP Z VR Backpack, which is a battery powered, 10.25-pound backpack that’s driven by an Intel Core i7-7820HQ CPU, with an NVIDIA Quadro P5200 graphics card. Obviously, the main benefit of the wearable solution is the ability to move in a VR world untethered and without tripping over wires. Significantly, the unit features a dock, which allows developers to quickly transition back and forth between their desktop and wearable VR PC for virtual reality content design.

Beyond the backpack, HP is selling the HTC Vive Business Edition head mounted display (HMD). HP also plans to open 13 immersion centers around the globe to help companies experience HP VR technology and learn how to best develop and deploy VR.

Pole Position

An Audi prospect checking out the tires close-up in VR.

One early adopter of HP VR is Audi, which has developed two types of showroom-based systems. One allows potential buyers to walk around the car and peer inside all the nooks and crannies.

The other is a chair-based system that allows potential buyers to use a controller to navigate around and into the car. As they approach doors, trunks, or engine compartments in the VR world, hot spots appear to open and view inside, or sit. Audi plans to rollout the chair-based system to all dealers in the third quarter of 2017.

Magdalena Maczkowski is the Product Owner of Audi’s VR Experience/Immersion. As she explained, most prospects come to the dealership knowing which car they want to buy. Working with a sales consultant, they can configure and visualize the car on a traditional large screen display. When it comes to choosing colors and final options, they may don the VR headset to get a feel for how the panoramic sunroof looks, or the high-end 18” rims, or how the colors look at night under a streetlight. And, since Audi sells more than 50 vehicles, prospects can experience a car that isn’t on the lot.

Training and Entertainment Applications

Another early HP VR partner is Motion Reality, Inc, which develops real-time human motion capture and simulation technologies for the military, law enforcement, entertainment, and sports markets. The interface allows users of Motion Reality products to move within a virtual environment and interact with their fellow actors and surroundings by physically moving around a defined real-world environment equipped with motion capture technology.

Training and entertainment courtesy of VR.

VR for Pain Relief and Therapy

A third company experimenting with HP’s technology is Firsthand Technologies, which uses VR for medical applications ranging from pain relief to helping reduce the symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) or phobias. Regarding PTSD, VR can provide controllable exposure to a fearful experience, allowing patient to process and ultimately overcome its impact. “People get stuck,” Firsthand CEO Howard Rose commented. “VR unsticks them with gradual, low stress challenges.” Rose also shared that Firsthand started using HP workstations in hospitals, in part, because of their whisper quiet operation.

Over the last 12-18 months, VR has evolved from a technology focused on a small number of use cases to a tool that can be used by any company that needs to market and sell its products, train its workers, or perform any number of other functions—including, of course, delivering information and entertainment. HP’s commitment to VR adds an exclamation point to that pivot. While VR has not yet captured widespread consumer use, the addition of more options and commercial implementations can only help build interest in virtual reality experiences as a whole.

Advertising | Innovation | Perspectives

Is virtual reality advertising about to take off?

July 13, 2017 Mark Glaser, Founder and Publisher – MediaShift

With all the moves by brands and publishers to use virtual reality for immersive storytelling, it was only a matter of time before true VR advertising would follow. But this being a relatively new form of advertising means that the rules and standards haven’t been written yet.

While recent VR launches by Google, Adobe, and Nokia show the potential of ads in VR, the momentum has yet to start catching on for audiences. And with current audience limitations — and what’s viable given industry trajectories — it seems that VR advertising remains a niche reality for now, despite exciting new experiments.

Pioneering Ventures into VR Advertising

Google is experimenting with VR advertising.

As part of its Area 120 internal incubator, Google recently announced its foray into VR advertising: Advr, an ad prototype that’s essentially a cube of content. Viewers are able to see an ad by clicking on the cube or staring at it long enough to generate a video ad pop-up. It’s an almost telekinetic use of your eyes to open a jack-in-the-box of advertising. The viewer can then either watch the ad or close the player.

In a blog post announcing the prototype, which is currently in testing with VR game developers, Google stated that VR ad formats — and its work within this space — ought to follow a few key principles:

easy for developers to implement
native to VR
flexible enough to customize
useful and non-intrusive for users

Adobe also has a VR advertising venture that creates a “theater-style experience” for 2-D videos, rather than 3-D or 360 degree video. Think of it as a video clip pausing for an advertisement to take over a whole theater before slowly fading out and the clip starting again.

It’s a bit more intrusive than Google’s effort, but Adobe says it could get this kind of advertising solution out to publishers in the next six to 12 months, and could eventually offer the same attributes of video advertising, including consumer targeting and detailed analytics. Adobe also says it wants to prioritize mobile VR as opposed to higher-end headsets, to make use of what’s more affordable to audiences.

Not to be outdone by competitors, Nokia is boasting a VR advertising experience as well. Technically a 360-degree video , the ad allows people to people virtually walk around a house to see how the its new line of digital health products by are used. It’s also a not-so-subtle way for Nokia to advertise its VR-creating hardware, the OZO camera.

Destination Advertising

While the potential for VR ads to boost retail and e-commerce (as Nokia is doing) is certainly on point, travel is another promising area. Cathay Pacific has partnered with the VR and 360-degree advertising firm OmniVirt to deliver such an ad experience. Marriott Hotels has also used 360-degree video to transport people to exotic destinations.

While these brands are trying to be forward-thinking and innovative in the advertising space, they’re also able to tap into the emotional longing for anyone considering a vacation. It’s no wonder that a recent study by Vibrant Media on VR and AR advertising shows consumers are interested in experiencing travel destinations before buying their tickets.

Niche Footholds = Niche Outcomes

Still, the same study by Vibrant Media lays out the harsh truth to new pioneers in VR advertising: There are tough hurdles to building audiences. The study found that consumers don’t want to have to worry about additional software and hardware. They also worry about getting charged for overages with cellular data.

Given that VR headsets have yet to expand beyond gaming and entertainment, it’s tough to imagine VR advertising expanding beyond these same kinds of consumers in the short term. Data from Forrester Research indicates that 46% of online adults in the U.S. in 2016 didn’t see themselves using VR and 42% of online adults hadn’t even heard of VR headsets. Mass consumer adoption of VR technologies is at least five years away, according to the research.

Meanwhile, a January 2017 report by Yes Lifecycle Marketing found that few advertisers are currently delving into VR or have plans for it. More than half of marketers surveyed said VR or AR advertising didn’t apply to their organizations, and only 8% of them were currently using VR advertising (7% AR advertising). The current marketers in this space are definitely on the cutting edge.

It’s important for publishers and advertisers to experiment with virtual reality and immersive storytelling, because they can truly be awe-inspiring experiences. But so far, the moves into VR advertising are baby steps and the standards and best practices are still a work in progress. While there is a load of potential, we have a long way to go for it to be a reality for the public at large.

Innovation | Video

The full picture: What’s driving USA Today Network’s Get Creative immersive video strategy?

June 2, 2017 Peggy Anne Salz, Founder and Lead Analyst – Mobile Groove

Immersive video—powered by 360° cameras and 3D platforms—is poised to make a significant impact with audiences across devices. Indeed, the advance of and Virtual Reality (VR) changes all the rules, shifting the focus from reach as the measure of effective content and storytelling to depth. More and more companies are embracing VR to connect with people on a deeper level. A new video gold rush is on, as companies race to understand and integrate some form of mixed reality into their content and marketing strategies to move and monetize their audiences.

USA Today Network, which has become one of the most prominent VR content creators in the news business, is one company that doesn’t have to play catch up. Last year it claimed the pole position, launching the first-ever weekly VR news show. “VRtually There” is a collaboration between its editorial team and in-house agency, Get Creative. The intent is to create awareness for brands such as Toyota through content aimed to educate and inspire consumers.

Kelly Andresen, SVP, Head of GET Creative, USA TODAY NETWORK

Peggy Anne Salz—mobile analyst and Content Marketing Strategist at MobileGroove—caught up with Kelly Andresen, SVP and Head of USA Today Network’s Get Creative, to talk about the rules of immersive storytelling and the impact of VR on content, context and the consumer.

At one level, content has to be crafted to appeal to audiences, which means it has to valuable and relevant. But the advance of mobile and apps means content also needs to be more contextual. How do you manage both?

We see a range. At one end, it’s all about a 100% fully custom and bespoke approach. In those cases, we work with clients and their agencies to make recommendations on the best content to reach their audiences and their KPIs. But on the other end of the spectrum, we also see local clients who don’t just want to tell a compelling story to their customers and potential customers. They also need to drive immediate results like in-store traffic or ecommerce. In those cases, it’s about creating a context—and the right environment—for them to showcase their content and advertising message. So, in that case, it’s really about creating custom content, not branded content. It needs to provide an environment and a context where there the advertiser can showcase their specific advertising message or their unique proposition that will raise awareness of their brand and drive immediate action.

Contextual content for a local audience sounds like a good opportunity for local advertisers, which might not have the budget for content marketing,. They can piggyback” on the content you create and distribute….

Yes, but it is also a challenge for the industry as no one has really cracked local branded content at scale. Getting it right is expensive for these advertisers, and long approval processes don’t match what local advertisers need if they want to engage customers in the right time and place. It’s doesn’t fit the content of the individual. That’s where we have a unique opportunity because we are a network of 110 sites with actual physical locations, real journalists, and real connections to our communities across the U.S. This gives the infrastructure and the team to be able to create really unique solutions at an affordable price that will still drive results in the local markets. It’s an area I am going to be very focused on in 2017 as we work to build out a local branded content solution at scale.

We’re also focused on how can we revolutionize the model to help retailers tell great stories with content that also allow them to bring customers in-store. I’m particularly excited about our partnership with Walgreens, one of the nation’s largest pharmacies that also offers beauty products. They are pursuing a strategy to brand themselves as a destination for beauty products. This makeover extends to creating an entire content strategy. That’s where we’ve partnered to create original content in the form of photo galleries and 2D videos showing customers how they can “get the look” with products. Distribution of this content across all channels, including social, drives awareness of the brand. It also changes brand perception and drives calls to action including signups for the beauty program. It shows us how branded content and custom content can work for both local and national advertisers, in the right context, to move customers across all steps of the marketing funnel.

You have a multi-dimensional view of content, customers and context. You have also added virtual reality to the mix. How are you using it to tell stories that engage your audience – over a 115 million unique every month – and serve your advertisers?

The USA Today Network has taken a leadership position in the creation of high-quality premium virtual reality content, and we’ve been doing it for three years. That doesn’t sound like very long but that’s light years in the VR world. When I joined the company in 2015, the company had already made significant investments in the virtual reality space. For one, it requires a team of people who know coding and how to capture the content. It requires people who are familiar with the specialized 360° cameras, and more importantly: how to tell stories in this medium because it’s very different from any other medium.

I was fortunate to step in and build out a brand-new content studio, which has expanded to a full service in-house agency. It takes advantage of the learnings and expertise that existed in order to cultivate those same capabilities within our branded content studio. I hired people who had produced the award-winning VR and 360° video from our newsrooms to join our branded content team. Our value proposition going out to advertisers was about leveraging our knowledge to help them leapfrog and try out VR at an effective price. They also benefit from our ability to produce that content quickly and consistently.

The VR shows with Toyota are a milestone. What other VR content have you produced since?

We’ve produced original content for the 2017 Toyota Camry as well as original VR work with Google Nest. We’ve seen a lot of excitement and engagement around it. But what is unique about our offering is that we can not only create the content, we can also distribute it to an audience that is actively consuming it and looking for it because they have come to associate VR with our brand.

In theory, because VR is immersive, people can watch it for hours. How do you keep people engaged?

Number one is the storytelling. Number two is the tech. It may sound silly, but it comes down to small details, like where to put the camera, that make a big difference. For example, Honda has created the fastest two-seater in IndyCar racing. When we did the first shoot we fixed the 360° camera to the helmet. But then, when we saw this footage afterwards, it felt like you are floating above the race track instead of actually driving on the race track. It’s small things like where you place the camera make a huge difference in how the viewer experiences the content.

What is going to keep a viewer engaged? You have to give them the freedom to enjoy the content but the direction to get the most out of the experience. With 2D video you can direct viewers to look by where you put the camera. In 360 and VR, a viewer can look wherever they want. They can look up, they can look down, they can look around. So we’ve experimented with audio cues to help them look where they need to look in order to help the story along and make sure the viewer has an awesome experience.

That is about the technology, but the attraction of VR is also how it can create a sense of empathy…

We’ve seen that VR does that, which is why we believe it’s perfect for two main types of storytelling. One is transporting people. In this scenario, the content transports people to places they may never otherwise be able to experience, like the inside of a volcano or to the top of a high wire. They can experience the thrill of doing something they may never do in real life. The second is triggering emotion, empathy in particular. In this scenario, the content help tell a human story that enables people to literally experience what life is like in someone else’s shoes. Those two storylines are what drives our VR production, because both on the editorial side as well as on our branded content advertising side.

It sounds as if VR – done well – is also a way to beat ad blocking.

Ad blocking is a challenge for the content industry. But, at its core, it’s a call from consumers. They’re saying, “We want a better experience.” And I think this is a call to action for all of us to really deliver better experiences. So, yes, we are focused on creating better experiences for our audience, and our advertisers, and VR allows us to do this.

VR is in its infancy; it’s early days. What do you see as it matures?

We’ve all only scratched the surface of how we can use virtual reality as a storytelling medium. I can definitely see a future where, instead of sharing text or sharing photos like we do on social channels or even on our phones, we share whole virtual reality experiences. People can capture entire experiences and share them as content. We’re not there yet from a technical standpoint, but I do think I can see adoption and technology going in that direction. I also think we will see new kinds of interactivity. Experiences with brands and content companies will move beyond contests and quizzes. The next wave is all about enabling and empowering people to interact with brands and the content they produce to build deeper connections for both.-

Peggy Anne Salz is the Content Marketing Strategist and Chief Analyst of Mobile Groove, a top 50 influential technology site providing custom research to the global mobile industry and consulting to tech startups. Full disclosure: She is a frequent contributor to Forbes on the topic of mobile marketing, engagement and apps. Her work also regularly appears in a range of publications from Venture Beat to Harvard Business Review. Peggy is a top 30 Mobile Marketing influencer and a nine-time author based in Europe. Follow her @peggyanne.

Advertising | Industry-Research

Today’s challenges offer an opportunity to rebuild trust in digital media

January 24, 2017 DCN

With trust in mass media at a record low, publishers look to 2017 as an opportunity to distinguish quality journalism from the fake news landscape and bot traffic of big tech platforms.

CEOs, editors and digital leaders today recognize both the opportunities and the challenges in 2017. Reuters Institute surveyed 143 senior publishing executives in 24 countries to recognize current business sentiment, uncover trends and identify new developments in the digital marketplace. Interestingly, Reuters found that more than two-thirds (70%) of executives believe fake news offers them a chance to strengthened their brands. More than half (56%) say that Facebook Messenger will be an “important/very important” part of their offsite initiatives this year (53% for WhatsApp and 49% for Snapchat). And at the same time, just under half (46%) of these same respondents are more worried today than a year ago, about the role of offsite platforms.

In Reuters Institute’s annual predictions report, the key trends identified for 2017 include:

1. Addressing fake news

Fact-checking news outlets becomes the new norm.
Platform and algorithm changes allowing for easier reporting of false news (and feeding these signals back into the core algorithms so these sources get devalued).
Regulation threats to remove fake news from sites.
Algorithms are expected to challenge our bias.
Fighting for quality news brands.

2. Redefining publishers’ relationship with platforms

Publishers fight back by creating platforms of their own (e.g. Schibsted, started its own platforms for content and advertising to create the scale and data competence to compete with Facebook).
Platforms pay hard cash for content.
Mergers and acquisitions happen more often as scale will mean operating across multiple platforms.

3. Digital advertising and sustainable business models

Subscription payments will focus more about membership and less about paywalls. News publishers, especially, will need to attract new customers, offer new pay services and earn more money from their current subscribers.
Data, loyalty and personalization will help with converting unidentified web users into loyal customers by creating more relevant and personal experiences.
Mobile alerts and the battle for locked screens signifies the shift to mobile notifications to attract consumers back to apps and websites.
Acceptable ads and ad-blocking apply pressure on the marketplace to ensure a more positive user experience with non-intrusive advertising.
Sponsored content replaces the displayad model.
Pop-up newspapers and magazines will offer in-depth coverage on certain topics but for only a limited period of time.

4. Messaging applications and news bots

Voice news bots with voice-activated platforms gain strong penetration (e.g. Alexa and Google Home).
Fact-checking bots are activated (e.g. Full Fact, a UK based company, is already looking to developing a service that fact checks live press conferences).
Conversational commerce emerges (e.g. Crosby, a travel bot service, that reads your email or group messaging conversations and send you recommendations for where to eat, what to do and when to leave for the airport).

5. Voice as an operating system and the rebirth of audio

Podcasts and audio books get a big boost in the car.
Improvements to data and advertising around podcasts lead to significant investments by publishers. A new measurement system form Nielsen’s and a Swedish start-up platform Acast offer metrics for podcasts to support advertising models.
Businesses start to deploy Amazon Echo and Google Home speakers (e.g. hotels use voice-controlled devices to enable guests to order room service, check the weather and find TV channels).

6. Online video and the future of TV

Disillusion with Facebook Live shifts a live focus towards sport and exclusive music, both strong vehicles to attract audiences and advertisers.
Oversupply of short form video leads to falling advertising premiums.
New opportunities with feature-based videos for brands integrate messages into videos.
Video-selfies to experiment with new fantastical filters (e.g. Splash is a new app that allows you to create and annotate 360-degree experiences).

7. The blurring of television and online video

Top content will increasingly be watched on big screens.
Competition for talent and rights heats up to drive new subscription and retain existing users.
News bulletins lose audiences triggers new ways to appeal to young (e.g. CNN acquired video-sharing app start-up Beme, co-founded by YouTube creator Casey Neistat, is building a new brand around distinctive reporting and commentary for millennials).
New cross-platform metrics for TV.

8. Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR) and Mixed Reality (MR)

New reality tech offers huge potential to shape experiences for entertainment, education and commerce. Forecasters suggest around 30m devices will be sold by 2020 generating revenue of around $21 billion.

9. AI and algorithms under fire (e.g. An example gone sour was Microsoft’s friendly AI driven chatbot Tay. Within its first 24 hours on Twitter with Millennials, it was spouting offensive and racist messages such as “Hitler was right”).

10. Automation and a jobless future means robo journalism on the way

More automated stories.
Intelligent content production systems.
Computer and networked assisted investigations.
Filters and alerts are being developed to help manage the information overload (e.g. SamDesk and Dataminr are deployed in newsrooms to pinpoint and manage breaking news in social networks).

11. Cyber-Wars, and Personal Security

Encryption and surveillance are on the rise.

12. New technology

Sharper screens, fold out phones, better batteries.
Faster and more reliable networks (e.g. 5G).
Clothes as a platform with wearable technology.
Biometrics, the end of passwords and checkout-free shopping. A new shopping experience, Amazon Go, that automatically detects when products are taken from or returned to the shelves using computer vision and sensor fusion.

13. Start-ups to watch

Cheddar is a new business news video network for millennial. Founder Jon Steinberg of Buzzfeed is charging $6.99 for premium services on its own website and is looking to drive carriage fees from services like Facebook Live, Twitter and Netflix.
Zipline is a small robot airplane designed to carry vaccines, medicine and blood in developing countries.
Houseparty is a new group video chat, up to 8 people can chat at a time, from the creators of Meerkat.
Accompany aims to provide an automated briefing of all the information you need before you walk into any meeting including relevant files, email conversations with attendees, details about their lives sucked from the web plus up-to-date information on company performance.

2017 provides many opportunities for publishers to rebuild consumer trust in digital media. The Reuters Institute predictions suggest that publishers must help scrub the digital environment from bot traffic, annoying ads and fake or misleading news. They must hold themselves and others responsible and keep a watchful eye on the algorithmic accountability tied to the digital experience. Importantly, publishers must continue to build their digital brand and diversify their revenue streams beyond digital display advertising.

Perspectives | Video

Top 6 trends for publishers in 2017

December 15, 2016 Mark Glaser, Founder and Publisher – MediaShift

It’s been a topsy-turvy year for publishers in 2016, with big pushes into video, native advertising and even VR. But the end of the year saw the rise of Donald Trump, and questions about the power of social media and filter bubbles, along with the upside of a “Trump bump” in paid subscriptions and donations at the New York Times, ProPublica and other places.

With 2016 soon coming to a close, let’s look ahead to how the biggest trends of the past year will influence the digital media business in the year ahead.

1. Addressing fake news and the filter bubble
Fake news and the filter bubble, particularly after BuzzFeed’s explosive story on Macedonian teens reaping profits from pro-Trump news sites, have emerged as the topics du jour for media and technology companies following the 2016 election. With users now increasingly aware that red feeds and blue feeds exist as competing truths on their favorite platforms, all parties involved – from technology behemoths like Facebook, Google and Twitter, to media executives and publishers, to individuals themselves – must bear the burden of addressing this issue as 2017 unfolds.

Facebook and Twitter have both announced measures to help stop the spread of fake news, particularly by limiting advertising from fake news websites on its platforms. Facebook has reportedly filed a patent for a technology that would help users spot and report “objectionable content,” and is working with top news publishers to curate content directly into news feeds, both of which would presumably help curb an infestation of bogus content. And news consumers themselves will need to brush up on digital news literacy if they want to understand where content comes from and who’s behind it.

2. Love/hate relationship with platforms continues
Speaking of ups and downs, publishers have had a tough time coping with the growing power of social platforms, especially Facebook, as they command attention but don’t always play fair. Facebook continues to err in disclosing accurate ad and video measurements, while Twitter confuses analysts and consumers alike by banning, and then reinstating, the account of white nationalist leader Richard Spencer. Their standards will have a wider influence on the industry – particularly when it comes to free speech, hate speech, and the limits and freedoms of platforms to censor content.

What publishers can do in working with these platforms is multifold. First, they must consider whether they want to continue to trust and sustain social media ecosystems (that were built in large part on the appeal of their content), while competing with them for advertising and distribution. And if it is the case that Facebook is not investing in publishers the way they should and Twitter is declining in importance, then perhaps publishers need to invest more in other platforms like Snapchat and Google AMP rather than Facebook’s Instant Articles.

More likely, publishers will need to work together to push platforms like Facebook to work more closely on initiatives that are a win-win for both sides. Making sure analytics are right, ferreting out fake news and developing long-term revenues for Facebook Live would go a long way toward collaborative goals.

3. Premium content demands premium subscriptions and donations
Despite Donald Trump’s war with mainstream media, his election has helped the bottom line for news publishers and media outlets. From ProPublica to the New York Times, The Atlantic to Columbia Journalism Review and the Los Angeles Times – all have reported increased readership and interest from audiences, whether in the form of web traffic, donations or direct subscriptions.

Will this paid content boom last? The Financial Times had a similar “Brexit bump” and has largely kept most of its uptick in paid subscribers, so we will see. But it’s interesting that there’s less emphasis on eyeballs-for-eyeballs’-sake and more interest in paid premium content. Two new digital startups, The Outline (from Joshua Topolsky) and Axios (from Politico founder Jim VandeHei), have pushed quality over quantity, with manifestos against the chase for clicks. VandeHei, in particular, is pushing $10,000 subscriptions at Axios. We’ll see if people continue paying up.

4. Too much video, too many native ads
This year saw so many publishers push harder into video, and push harder toward native ads and branded content. On the video side, publishers like Mashable and BuzzFeed went all-in on video, while startups like NowThis and OZY are basically built for video. And traditional publishers like the New York Times, Time Inc. and the Wall Street Journal have invested deeply in their in-house studios to deliver branded content. Vice Media and BuzzFeed have also said that branded and sponsored content offered a substantial chunk of their 2016 revenues.

And that parallels the push by Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to make big bets on video, including live-streaming, where Facebook paid publishers to produce content. But how much is enough, and when do you get to overkill? We know that advertisers love branded content and video ads, and publishers know that their video is eminently sharable on social media, but is this what consumers really want? When you have a glut, only the best quality can survive. People will gravitate toward quality content, toward timely content, toward content with a personality. That means data and surveys will play an outsize role in which types of branded content or video – or heck, branded video – will make it in the long run.

5. Beyond the cutting edge: Bots, VR and edge tech needs to add to bottom line
Virtual reality was a media darling in 2016, but it’s still a far way off from mass consumption. More than anything, it’s going to take actual demand from the consumer, and widespread adoption, for it to become truly profitable. 2017 may not be the year we’ll see that, but the VR and AR markets are expected to grow in the long run as the hardware and techniques for investing in the tech become cheaper.

Bots, meanwhile, will become a hotter topic in the coming year, especially given Microsoft’s forthcoming Azure cloud service that will help developers build bots more easily. Yet again, consumer attention remains an important consideration. While bots may seem like a convenience, and have caught on in Asian countries, developers are going to have to work hard to convince people of their necessity in order for the tech to truly take off and become profitable.

6. The regulatory climate under Trump for M&A and privacy
An incoming Trump administration has Net neutrality advocates worried that a reversal of federal policy is likely despite Trump’s silence on the issue. His main public comment on Net neutrality, from 2014, is a tweet asserting the FCC’s move to reclassify the internet as a utility was “another top down power grab of the Obama administration.” His appointees to the FCC transition team have all been critical of current Net neutrality rules, so this could lead to yet another battle over the rules.

Although Trump promised that he would fight against the $85.4 billion AT&T/Time Warner deal, which he lambasted as “too much concentration of power in the hands of too few,” it seems he may be tiptoeing back on that line. AT&T executives, at least, seem confident the merger will pass regulatory scrutiny after meeting with Trump’s transition team. Whether this suggests more mega-mergers in media and tech likely depends on just how fickle Trump proves to be.

And when it comes to privacy, all indicators suggest 2017 and the following three years will be turbulent times. With more reports of hacking and press freedom under threat, the Signal app – which security researchers say offers the most privacy protection out of all messaging apps – has experienced a 400 percent jump in daily downloads since November 8.

Innovation

What it’s really like to produce a weekly virtual reality show at USA TODAY

December 12, 2016 DCN

Creating a weekly news program is a lot of work no matter what format it takes—but when you throw virtual reality into the mix, everything gets exponentially more complicated. That’s not stopping USA TODAY. Back in October, USA TODAY NETWORK announced VRtually There which it calls “the first branded news experience presented in virtual reality.”

USA TODAY has been producing Virtual Reality (VR) content since 2014, starting with Harvest of Change, a piece about the realities facing farmers in Iowa. Keira Nothaft, Director of Innovation, says that VR offers “an immersive way to bring the news to people in their homes in a very personal, interactive way.” But don’t be fooled, she says, “Creating VR or 360 news is a laborious process.”

In the case of VRtually There, each episode has three segments. The first is the “thrill me” segment, which features exciting stories about things like rollercoasters or a ride on an F18. The second is the anchor of the show, concentrating on storytelling. And the third segment which slows the show down, allowing viewers to pause and explore a place. It was original imagined as a daily show, though it was quickly scaled back, according to Niko Chauls, director emerging technology at USA TODAY NETWORK. He envisioned it as a way to “attract a new audience, create an incremental new revenue stream and build habit/routine/return visits with a regular publishing cadence.”

There’s a team in place to make it all happen; David Hamlin, Executive Producer of VRtually There, works with three staffers. Nothaft heads up the innovation team of four people, and there are also freelancers across the country ready to work on these VR stories. But it all starts with finding the right story.

“There has to be a physical imperative to do the story in VR,” says Nothaft. If someone at USA TODAY thinks they have a story that might be a fit, they bring it to Hamlin, who then talks about it with Nothaft and her team. From there, Hamlin drills down into the story with producers and much of the preproduction is similar to any video endeavor. They confirm locations and characters with the people working in the field. Once the team is in the field, Hamlin says often all he can do is pray—especially if his team is shooting in a remote location.

Despite working with a team of people who are fairly well versed in VR, Hamlin is a realist. “Nobody really has a ton of experience in 360…It’s a very collaborative process,” he says. The real difficulty begins when the content gets back to the studio and it’s time to stitch the recordings together. Right now it all has to be done by hand. Hamlin doesn’t even see the footage until after it’s been stitched together. At that point the producer usually becomes the editor, and they start working the footage into the final project we eventually see.

In a given week, Hamlin says. “Monday and Tuesday is spent assembling the pieces of the show that’s about to air. Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday are spent cutting next week’s show.” The fastest the team can put together a segment is two weeks, and although many segments are produced well in advance, the team also tries to leave room for timely content. For instance, they did a segment on the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, which needed to be aired in a timely manner.

In order to keep up with the demand for content, Hamlin and his team have to stay ahead of the game by working on multiple stories at a time. He says that in order to make the model sustainable, they are going to need to stockpile stories. As demanding as the schedule is, Hamlin says, “I do think what we’re doing is new and groundbreaking. And I’m proud to be a part of the effort. It’s brave of USATODAY.”

Innovation

Will PlayStation bring VR to the masses?

October 24, 2016 DCN

In a word, no. In the short term, Sony’s new Playstation VR (PSVR) headset will dominate sales in the console-based headset market, but this group is comprised of early adopters in a closed market. While significant, the gaming market is too small to be called a mass market, and PSVR sales to early adopters doesn’t even assure that VR will become a killer app in gaming (Kinect, anyone?). Overall, VR is in the early stages, and still seeking killer apps that can drive true mass-market adoption.

VR Headset Market in a Nutshell

The VR headset market breaks into three categories: phone-based, console-based, and PC-based. According to projections from researcher Strategy Analytics, phone-based headsets will account for 93% of overall sales in 2016, with console-based units at 6% and PC-based units at 1%.

So why are PC-based sales estimates so low? Because the GPU requirements are so high. Though some researchers put the number of VR-capable computers as high as 16 million by the end of 2016, all those aren’t owned by gamers. And other projections put the number as low as 3 million.

In contrast, the installed base of VR-capable PlayStation 4 consoles is projected to reach 53 million by the end of 2016, which is between 3-17 times larger. If Sony sells the 2.6 million PSVR units some analysts anticipate, it’s an attach rate of just 5%. Apply that to the most pessimistic estimate of VR-ready PCs owned by games, and that’s only 150,000 high-end units.

Even if PSVR sales smash projections, these are all sales to early adopters, which are essential to mass market success but an inaccurate predictor thereof. Beyond the console-based market, PSVR can’t trigger a mass market in PC sales because the installed base of VR-capable PCs is tiny. It will do little to impact phone-based VR headsets because the experience is so different; no one expects to get PSVR performance from a smartphone.

Hunt for the Missing Killer App

VR won’t achieve mass market success unless and until sufficient killer apps become available to stimulate broad-based use. Certainly, gaming may be one of them, but it’s only one, and its impact will be felt most in the console market.

For PC-based units like the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive, potential breakthrough applications will come in markets where users can afford the high-end computing requirements and expensive headset costs. Manufacturing is a great example. For example, a recent PWC survey found that 36% of all surveyed US manufacturers are either currently adopting VR, or plan to do so in the next three years. Over a third (37%) planned to adapt augmented reality technology in the same period. The two most promising applications were product design and development, and safety and manufacturing skills training.

A recent article in The Economist describes how real-estate companies in China use VR to show prospects apartments in London. The article reports that China has largely ignored VR-based gaming to focus on business applications like sales, design and education. Medicine is highly touted as another market that can benefit from the enhanced training that VR offers and and afford the costs.

Phone-based units are more for experiencing VR as opposed to heavy-duty gaming. Here the likely short-term applications are watching entertainment-based or utilty-based VR, interacting with social media and simple gaming. For example, the NBA just announced that they are streaming live games in VR for the 2106-2017 season, but only to the Samsung Gear VR headset. Facebook recently announced Carmel, a VR web browser that will enable simple VR experiences like putting you inside a car for a test drive, or shopping in a VR simulated store on Oculus devices, but also on some smartphone-based VR devices. Google’s new Daydream View will have more than 50 “experiences” by the end of 2016, and will also work with Google Play Movies, YouTube, StreetView, and Google has created VR tours of many historic locations. Whether any of these rises to the level of killer app remains to be seen.

What Does the Future Hold?
Everyone involved in VR, whether hardware or software developers, or industry analysts, are drinking their own PR- and demo-fueled Kool-Aid, and will point to any success as proof of market viability. However, even a rudimentary analysis leads to the conclusion that even if PSVR sells 5 million units in 2016, it means very little for markets outside of console-based gaming.

No matter where you fit in—investor, software-developer, or potential buyer—you need to work hard to separate the signal from the noise. We’re in the early days of VR adoption, and success in any single market doesn’t portend mass market success. The best news is that the major hardware vendors; Facebook, HTC, Samsung, Google and Microsoft, can stay the course long enough for the technology to evolve and become affordable, and for those killer apps to emerge.

Jan Ozer (@janozer) is an experienced technologist and author who specializes in streaming media.

Innovation

360 degree video pushes VR into the mainstream

September 29, 2016 DCN

National Geographic offers a 360 degree video tour of Vietnam's Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park. On a PC, users can look around by dragging using a mouse or touchscreen. On a tablet,  users can look around by moving the device itself.

Go to any conference these days, and you are bound to see some virtual reality (VR) on display. In reality (if you’ll pardon the expression), despite its massive cool factor, VR is still very much in its infancy. However, one type of VR called 360 degree video is entering the mainstream, and introducing the promise of virtual reality to the masses.

SamsungVR — Woman using a Samsung VR headset. Photo by By Nan Palmero.

Today, most VR requires an external headset from the likes of Oculus (owned by Facebook), Samsung or HTC—and the recent introduction of Sony Morpheus has the potential for impact, given the broad PlayStation user base. Google has also created an extremely low-cost headset called Google Cardboard, but we haven’t seen VR gain wide market appeal just yet. It’s still very early days, after all.

Unlike its more immersive cousin, VR, 360 degree video gives the viewer the ability to see outside the frame by dragging the picture to get a 3D-ish view of the scene. While virtual reality allows users to interact with the world around them, 360 degree video is limited to a view that circles the perspective of one camera. And though it limits the user to the role of spectator, rather than participant, it has the advantage of being much more accessible, mostly because it doesn’t require that external hardware, which makes it consumable by anyone.

And it’s catching on in a big way with the likes of Disney, Associated Press, National Geographic and the Financial Times of London creating videos. We’ve also seen 360 degree video of office tours, Jimmy Kimmel’s Emmy monologue, and even a tour of my TechCrunch colleague, Lucas Matney‘s apartment (which is pretty nice).

The whys and wherefores
So you want to be a 360 degree video star? First you’ll need a camera. These special devices range widely in price from around $200 all the way up to $60,000, and many price points and feature-sets in between. As CNET points out, you get what you pay for, and there are devices for hobbyists and professionals, as with any camera.

At $60,000, the Nokio Ozo 360 degree video camera is at the top end of the price range.

Once you get the camera, it’s a matter of creating the video, and there are two types it turns out, according to Gregory Potter, an analyst who covers virtual reality for SNL Kagan. The first, monoscopic, creates that kind of flat 3D effect you see in videos where you drag your mouse (or finger) to see a 3D view of the scene. The second, stereoscopic, creates a multidimensional experience that requires a VR headset to take advantage of.

Tom Vance, head of content at Jaunt, a startup that creates virtual reality content, says 360 degree video takes many forms. According to Vance, 360 degree video can be consumed in a variety of ways: everything from a 360-web experience where the viewer is clicking and dragging with their mouse, to what we he calls a “magic window” experience where viewers watch the experience on their phones without a headset and rotate the phone around to experience the 360-degree panorama. Finally, for the most robust experience, users can view the content with a VR headset—which calls for a point of distinction, he points out, as headsets include everything from the low-end experience (like with a Google cardboard) to higher end experiences that Samsung Gear VR, Oculus and HTC Vive provide.

Early days indeed
Vance believes that 360 degree video is, in its way, a stepping stone to true VR, rather than an end unto itself. He says that true 3D immersive experiences will require a VR headset to achieve. From a content and technology perspective, 360 degree video offers an introductory opportunity to learn about telling stories in the emerging medium of immersive video experiences.

But the story is just part of it. Creating the video itself also requires a new set of production skills. “VR production is hard and we are still experimenting and in a learning phase at the highest level and across the board. That is exciting and challenging,” he said. While Vance may be speaking from personal experience at Jaunt, his point could easily refer to the industry at large as well.

While 360 degree video could be a bridge to whatever comes next—as our phones and various devices catch up with the technology—it’s here now and it provides an opportunity to give consumers a peek at stuff that’s outside of the frame. That’s already pretty exciting. But as we get more comfortable wearing VR headsets and their usage becomes widespread, the quality of the content should increase dramatically and open up all kinds of possibilities for content creators, whether entertainment media, marketers or news organizations.

Innovation

Experimentation explodes the boundaries of powerful storytelling

September 14, 2016 Michelle Manafy, Editorial Director – DCN

There’s a whole lot of talk about content these days, but the bottom line is that great storytelling is what elevates mere information into the stuff of conversation, inspiration and maybe even viral sensation. The newest addition to the roster of DCN’s member’s-only gatherings—Powerful Storytelling—offered a morning filled with examples of just that. And while it was our first event to focus squarely on the more creative aspects of the business of content, it bore the hallmark of all of our events: DCN members provided candid insights into the strategies and creative process behind the content that people love.

Though the content itself, and the insights proffered, were far-ranging, one major theme emerged: the importance of experimentation. While most storytelling fundamentals remain constant, distribution channels, devices, and consumer preferences are among the many factors in near-constant flux. Certainly, that poses challenges. It also offers opportunities and the creativity the speakers highlighted showed a universal spirit of experimentation—in organizational structure, partnerships, and use of emerging tools—to better connect with consumers.

The day started off with Jake Silverstein, New York Times Magazine Editor-in-Chief, presenting their early forays into virtual reality. Silverstein encourages experimentation with the medium because of its ability to enable viewers to feel empathy by literally seeing through the eyes of a child refugee, for example. And while one audience member noted that virtual reality (one of the most hyped storytelling mediums du jour) lacks some of the qualities that make text so evocative such as the sense of smell or setting a larger context for a story, Silverstein emphasized that VR offers a whole new way to experience a story.

Consumer Reports Executive Director of Content Gwendolyn Bounds said that experimentation is an essential piece of the transformation the brand is currently undertaking (which begins to roll out next week with a new logo and aesthetic enhancements on both its website and in the November issue of the magazine.) She says they are trying a number of new story formats, including unique social and mobile content, and 360-degree video—one of which puts users into the driver’s seat of CR’s lauded automotive test process. Further innovations will emerge when the brand moves to a “membership” model in coming months.

In a crowded landscape, Bounds points out that content brands need to experiment in order to find the right way to make their storytelling distinct. She also said that it is important to continually test the types of content that their consumers will “give them permission to address.” In the case of Consumer Reports, an example was its “A Beautiful Death” package, which focused on the many aspects and issues surrounding consumers’ choices around end-of-life issues.

“Experimentation is critical” at Business insider, according to recently-promoted Editor-in-chief Alyson Shontell. In addition to testing out short synopsis-style recaps of long-form articles and captioning slideshows and videos on the images so they can be consumed without sound or accompanying text, she said they’ve also been playing with multiple headlines/versions of a single story. “If you have someone who says 12 different things that could be headlines, we break it out into short takes that may collectively get far more views.” And why not? “Because a digital publication should have its own set of rules” not follow the path of television or print.

Kicking off his talk with images reflecting the Financial Times’ historic love of the text-dense page, Data Visualization Editor Alan Smith said he has found a great willingness from the FT and its staff to experiment with ways in which data can be transformed from mere line- and pie-charts into an in-depth storytelling medium all its own. To do so, you need to truly understand what the data is really about and then he said you can play with presentation so that “graphics take on a life of their own” and can effectively communicate far more than numbers: what those numbers really mean to those involved in the story and to those reading about it.

Certainly, one of the day’s most enthusiastic champions of experimentation was Mike Yapp, Director of Google’s YouTube in house agency, The Zoo (pictured, top). He believes that content is becoming increasingly “liquid” and that it is constantly being transformed by the users themselves. Thus, Yapp said “writers and designers need to think more like inventors” in order to create content ready-made for increasingly malleable, immersive and experiential consumer experiences.

Noting that the first wave of virtual reality content innovation created experiences were just for one person, he said that future innovations will include shared VR experiences. For example, his team worked with Lockheed Martin to create a VR experience for children who collectively experienced a VR visit to Mars while riding on a school bus together. The goal was not simply to push the bounds of VR from single-user experience to one that is social, but to employ innovative storytelling to ignite the minds of children so that they can go farther than ever before.

For the Creative Director of The Independent Journal Review, Benny Johnson, experimentation drives the site’s entertaining (and often irreverent) news coverage. When asked how he gets politicians such as Marco Rubio and Lindsay Graham to participate in creating such viral hits as “How to Get Revenge with a Football” and “How to Destroy your Old Cell Phone,” Johnson said “we’re in a special time where politicians from the highest levels to local levels are experimenting with how to engage the public” and, he said, content companies should too.

Yet Johnson expressed a point that also recurred throughout the day: Technology is a storytelling tool, not an endgame. “You need to do more than express the fact that your company has the technology,” he said. It is essential to tell a story so powerful it transcends technology.

Innovation | Video

6 Big trends from the NewFronts (hint: may include video)

May 19, 2016 Mark Glaser, Founder and Publisher – MediaShift

The NewFronts started out as a sideshow (even a joke to some) compared to the TV Upfronts. But it’s no longer in the shadows, as everyone from the New York Times, Bloomberg, CNN and BuzzFeed stole the spotlight at this year’s NewFronts in New York. This series of events provides a forum for digital to court advertisers in an increasingly competitive market.

With two-thirds of U.S. agency and marketing professionals reporting increased investments toward desktop and mobile video, video — whether original series, virtual reality or live-streaming — naturally took center stage at this year’s event. Alongside new metrics for measuring advertising also came reflections about what exactly constitutes an advertisement now, as well as more of a natural acceptance, articulated some time ago, that the Internet indeed is becoming the new television.

Here’s a rundown of the most important trends from this year’s showcase, and some caveats:

1. Virtual Reality is Everywhere
Following the 360-degree viewing capabilities the name implies, virtual reality is seemingly all around us now as more media outlets jump into the fray. As Adage reported, publishers “are bringing virtual reality to almost every pitch.” Some indicators: National Geographic, AOL and Refinery29 are all launching VR studios. Conde Nast too is producing a VR series. The Economist revealed plans for a second year producing virtual reality documentaries. Time Inc. also announced a virtual reality app will be included around its Life brand, which will encompass publications such as Time, People, EW and Sports Illustrated. In addition, Hulu and Live Nation, the world’s largest concert promoter, announced a partnership to curate virtual reality concert experiences to be available on Hulu’s VR app. The New York Times, meanwhile, announced its continued push toward VR on both the advertising and the editorial front.

Caveat: While virtual reality might be in the air, it might not have a big enough installed base or active user base yet.

2. Original Video Series Are Hot
Alongside publishers bringing VR to almost every pitch was their announcements of original video series. Playboy, the New York Times, and The Economist announced new original video programming. Yahoo announced it was “doubling down” on its video focus and constraining it to four verticals — news, sports, finance and lifestyle. WebMD also announced it was bulking up on its lifestyle programming, and Vice unveiled plans to create up to 20 TV channels around the world. Furthermore, among other video-based initiatives, Vox revealed it’s creating a standalone studio to create content for Snapchat, as Poynter’s Benjamin Mullin reported.

Caveat: There are so many original video series that no one has time to watch them all.

3. Technology & Metrics Matter
Major endeavors in the world of video also means that new metrics must emerge to keep up with industry demands. Mashable, for example, announced two additions to its Velocity technology suite. “Joining the Velocity Dashboard, which uses natural language processing to mine for topics about to go viral, is Velocity CMS, which is used to create competitive stories on those topics, and Velocity Kg, which will optimize content for multi-platform sharing,” as Troy Dreier of StreamingMedia wrote. Hulu is building interactive ads specifically for connected TVs, and is “working with Nielsen to enable the measurement of ads through over-the-top video delivery devices such as Roku, PlayStation, Xbox and Apple TV,” AdAge’s Jeanine Poggi’s reported. Yahoo also announced expanded video metrics through a partnership with the advertising analytics platform Moat to measure viewability and and metrics beyond viewability. YouTube, meanwhile, announced “Breakout Videos” through its Google Preferred product, to help find the next viral hit. It’ll allow brands to automatically buy ads on these soon-to-be trending videos.

Caveat: Technology is cool, but often it’s the tech companies who can build better technology than publishers.

4. Live-streaming Becoming Routine
It goes without saying that live-streaming is becoming bigger than ever. Facebook, for example, revealed it will create a live-streamed morning show, and is partnering with Activision Blizzard, a videogame giant, to offer live e-Sports coverage on the platform. Among Time’s new video offerings is a streaming video network geared toward cord-cutters. YouTube and Hulu are also both launching live TV offerings.

Caveat: Same as VR: There might be more live-streaming show ideas than people who want to watch all those live streams.

5. Internet is the New TV
We’ve been hearing this for some time, but it seems that the Internet is truly becoming modern-day television. National Geographic, long a fixture on TV, is now putting its efforts toward Instagram and other digital platforms. While Vox is backing a new television show, tellingly, more hype surrounds its pivot toward content creation on Snapchat Discover. Ellen DeGeneres has long been known for her television talk show, and now she’s starting her own digital network. Telenovelas are now coming to the digital world — specifically targeting Millennials — thanks to a joint effort by Telemundo and BuzzFeed. The digital news company Newsy is also trying to attract Millennial eyes with online programming and advertising meant for a generation not interested in broadcast.

Caveat: While Millennials make up a large segment of cord-cutters and “cord-nevers,” pay TV continues to rebound, and Comcast even added subscribers in the last quarter.

6. Dizzying Numbers
None of the investment toward video and its related endeavors make sense unless companies have the data and metrics to back up their ambitions. BuzzFeed reported it now gets more than 7 billion content views a month (compared to 2.8 billion monthly views a year ago). And only a quarter of BuzzFeed content is consumed on its actual website, underscoring the importance of its social and other platform strategies. The entertainment and trend publisher PopSugar, meanwhile, reported that its video views on Facebook have jumped 452 percent since it first debuted its Facebook show, PopSugar Rush, a year ago. Hulu revealed that 70 percent of its viewing happens in a living room environment, reinforcing the trend of digital being the new TV. And Bloomberg Media also announced it has doubled its video streams since last year, as well as gained a 25 percent increase in mobile users. The company now attracts 20 million video views a month.

The Daily Mail, meanwhile, had its own impressive statistics: “The U.K.-based publisher is now posting 650 videos a day, which has resulted in a 516 percent jump in views in the past year. It’s getting 383 million monthly video views, 12 million video views per day, and claims an 80 percent completion and viewability rate,” Adweek’s Christopher Heine wrote.

Caveat: Some metrics are more valuable than others. Video views on Facebook have been maligned as too generous, counting after only 3 seconds. And huge numbers of eyeballs don’t always equate to huge income.

Industry-Research

Virtual reality’s challenging future

March 30, 2016 DCN

Virtual reality is still in the beginning stages as a new medium with challenges ahead. The consumer market is currently small, however UBS predicts that annual device sales will reach roughly 34 million units by 2020, attributing to $6.7 billion hardware sales and 3.3 billion in software sales.

What exactly is virtual reality? The experience can vary from an occurrence that allows people to feel present in an alternative environment; to an augmented reality set in the real world and with virtual objects and information layered into the experience or it can be seen as a spherical or “360-degree view, allowing the viewer to look up, down and around.” Many simply explain that the VR experience as an illusion.

To provide a better understanding of the VR experience, the marketplace and its future, the Knight Foundation partnered with the USA Today Network to produce a full industry analysis. The report, Viewing the Future? Virtual Reality in Journalism examines these core questions and more:

Storytelling: Is VR a new and powerful tool for journalism? Does it have the ability to engage the viewer and provide a fuller experience of the subject matter?

Feedback to VR content is characterized by a more emotional reaction. Consumers report that VR brings them closer to the events and breaks down boundaries allowing you to step inside the story. Still journalists report being challenged to preserve a narrative thread in VR storytelling.

Ethical impact: Does the VR experience alter the authenticity of the information?

Providing a 360-degree of a story offers consequences as well with regard to personal privacy and graphic content.

Market growth: While VR experiences are expected to grow this year, is there enough content being produced to continue momentum?

The production of VR is both timely and costly. In order for VR to establish itself and become more widespread, time and cost must be reduced.

Monetization: How will the medium be monetized? What are the metrics for effective brand messaging and/or sponsorships?

Many digital ad experts do not see VR as a banners and boxes business. They think of VR in terms of creative and custom integrations such as immersive pre-role, native VR and advertorial features and/o product placement.

Importantly, VR is also rooted in real-world applications in medicine, surgery, architecture, and entertainment. Interestingly, nurses found that placing a burn victim in a virtually snow-covered environment can relieve pain; surgeons use VR to practice new techniques and sports coaches use to train athletes in situational assessments. Adoption is key to market growth and many anticipate a convergence to mobile devices will make the mobile virtual reality platform a core part of the VR experience and secure its future.