Spherical Video Promises Immersive 3D Experience
This week at the F8 Developer Conference, Facebook unveiled its long term vision for video content within its native Newsfeed. Facebook has been looking for a way to incorporate Oculus Rift with its core business since the $2 billion acquisition of last year. The answer today: 3D Oculus-based spherical video.
Mark Zuckerberg Introducing Spherical Video (Credit: CNET)
Spherical Video for Newsfeed
With over three billion videos consumed daily on its own Newsfeed alone, it makes sense for Facebook to introduce a new and engaging way for users to consume video content.
Mark Zuckerburg described spherical videos as an immersive 360-degree viewing experience. Viewers can interact with spherical video by panning the viewing angle directly on the browser-based player without any special 3D gear. Although there is no timeline on when spherical video will start appearing on Newsfeed, it is certain that this addition will make the consumption of video content more engaging than ever before.
Immersive and Engaging
End users, though might not have the technology to create spherical video anytime soon, will consume this type of media with higher engagement. By nature, traditional video consumption is very passive Spherical video changes this dynamic and allow viewers to interact directly with the content being played. Users can now interact with the environment within a video content, play around with its viewing angle, or even bring it to live with the help of a virtual reality (VR) gear. The results: higher engagement.
F8 Attendees Experiencing VR at a 'Teleportation Station' (Credit: F8)
Marketing Potential of Spherical Video
From a marketing perspective, spherical video means better targeted and more engaging advertisements. If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a video is worth a thousand pictures. Businesses can now leverage spherical videos to promote their brand in an environment where they know that their audience is already interested and engaged.
For example, a Facebook user viewing an organic video content about France will be a perfect target for an airline's promotion about vacationing at France. The user is already interested and engaged in this topic, thus will have higher attention span and propensity to engage with the targeted promotion. Such airline company can now put potential customers in an immerse VR experience of being at Paris on a beautiful sunny day versus traditional marketing of static images and rhetoric.
Parting Thoughts
Throughout 2014, Facebook has been pushing for video content on its native Newsfeed against rivals such as YouTube. It has been successful thus far as brands such as Buzzfeed are now uploading content directly to Facebook due to its virality potential.
Spherical video will be a game changer addition for video consumption on Facebook if executed correctly. The distribution and access of spherical video technology will prove to be the pain point for Facebook. However, many brands and companies will likely adapt spherical video into their arsenal of marketing content given the current increase in video consumption and power of Facebook's Newsfeed algorithm.
What are your thoughts on spherical video? Is this a gimmick or a game changer? How can businesses incorporate VR into their marketing and advertising strategy? Comment below.
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Tai is currently a business undergraduate at UC Berkeley. He is ready to disrupt the tech industry with his infectious passion and energy for marketing! Learn more about his marketing and networking course at the Haas School of Business.
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Freelance Writer
9 年Spherical video is a tech designer's dream; both a gimmick AND a game changer. Such new features are going to change the way that other social media websites decide to host video streaming. This idea is revolutionary both in streaming and social media operation. It will be interesting to see how it plays out, no pun intended.
Enterprise Account Executive @ Confluent | Setting Data In Motion
9 年Good article! I think that Camera's and DSLR's are coming to a saturation point, where each generation is only slightly better than its last. The Google glass project was almost a failure for Google, though millions were spent on it. I really hope that Facebook can bring this project into life. I personally think that other social media websites will emerge which can rise to be a fierce competitor of Facebook. For this reason maybe its a better idea for Facebook to diversify its investment and not push users to use Facebook with its devices.
Associate
9 年It'll definitely be a way for people to spend more time on Facebook than we already are-- smart move.
Director at Prodigy technologies
9 年makes sense