Virtual Reality 2016 Market Analysis
Conventionally, the virtual reality market can currently be divided into several segments: the production and sale of virtual reality devices, virtual reality attractions, industry solutions and the development of virtual reality applications.
At the same time, the devices and applications themselves are further divided into two segments: desktop ones, which require a personal computer or a game console and mobile devices that work with a regular smartphone.
High-level virtual reality helmet manufacturers
')
The main players among the manufacturers of desktop virtual reality helmets are currently Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, Sony PlayStation VR.
Oculus Rift had a good start due to its superiority in the virtual reality market. Thanks to this, Oculus occupied a central position, uniting the Unity development environment and the peripheral developers around it. However, the difficulty with the compatibility of the versions of the SDK provided by Oculus for developers reduces their desire to participate in the development of new applications, which means that the dynamics of filling applications for this helmet will inevitably decrease. In addition, the competitor in the form of HTC Vive confidently equalized the score for all technical qualities and is ahead of the curve, providing new opportunities, such as direct synchronous movement in real and virtual space. We can say with confidence that in the near future of these two helmets, the leadership will take the HTC Vive, as a corporation with a longer technical experience and capabilities.
It is a bit incorrect to compare the Sony PlayStation VR with the previous two helmets, since this virtual reality helmet is aimed solely at gaming consoles, that is, they actually have a different target audience. However, taking into account established marketing communications with retail chains, Sony's virtual reality helmet is available in many stores, while sales of the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive are still conducted by retail enthusiasts. And this can just spur many to buy a game console and determine leadership in the virtual reality market as a whole.
Middle-level virtual reality helmet manufacturers.
Among the manufacturers of virtual reality glasses working with smartphones in Russia there are two main segments: up to one thousand rubles (low-level) and over one thousand rubles (middle-level).
The undisputed leader among the middle-level virtual reality devices is Samsung with its Gear VR. However, the latest news about the recall of the Note 7 smartphones due to spontaneous combustion, and the further refusal of Oculus Rift from the support dealt a serious blow to the company's reputation. Hardly any of the users would like the phone to explode right on their heads. The next manufacturer after Samsung should be called Fibrum. Not possessing special technical advantages in products, the company has built good marketing, participating in numerous events and developing its own branded mobile applications.
A serious contender for entering this market is Google with its Google Daydream VR platform, which they presented at a recent presentation. However, as practice in Russia shows in any case, Google rarely manages to get into the retail environment in order to talk about the mass consumption of its products. Let's see what happens this time and whether Google will succeed in defeating Samsung in the competition for retail chains.
Manufacturers of virtual reality helmets low-leve l.
To the low-level segment, we include Google Cardboard virtual reality glasses and their numerous copies worth less than one thousand rubles. The main channel for selling such glasses is the Internet; in most cases, customers order them through AliExpress from numerous Chinese manufacturers. The leaders of the Russian market of cardboard virtual reality glasses for smartphones certainly include VR CORP. Unlike any other manufacturers, including Google, virtual reality glasses #VRCORP are delivered immediately in the assembled design form, due to which VR CORP managed to leave the Internet on the retail market in shopping and entertainment centers and sell over 4,000 units in 2016.
If we talk about the dynamics of development in all three segments (high-level, middle-level, low-level), then it can be noted that for the Russian average consumer, high-level devices costing over $ 600 are not affordable, which severely limits sales growth, especially in conditions when virtual reality is still 2-3 years to the peak of popularity, when more than 50% of the population will know about it.
Most of the sellers of premium-class virtual reality glasses have already encountered this: the number of sales, as practice shows, rarely exceeds 1-2 per month, and the profit level varies between 10-20%, which does not allow to get enough profit to compensate for the waiting time of financial result. Therefore, at the moment the most successful are stores offering a wide range of virtual reality glasses of all levels and a variety of gadgets to work with them. In this case, those of the retailers who entrenched in the market should consider the threat in the form of large retail chains. As soon as the market shows steady demand, virtual reality products will instantly appear in their sale, and streamlined distribution channels will allow them to easily compete on price.
At the moment, good markets are virtual reality clubs, as well as industries that require high-quality simulation. Of course, first of all, these are educational centers at commercial organizations of the energy, industry, and medicine sectors. Many analysts point to the attractiveness of virtual reality for real estate, however, as practice shows, designers and developers are not willing to spend more than 100,000 rubles. solely for the wow effect in marketing action.
Sales in the Russian retail segment will soon compete in the middle-level and low-level virtual reality glasses. The first will have good performance in terms of cash sales, and the second in terms of sales in physical terms. However, the main driver for the growth of the popularity of virtual reality are and will be the near future low-level virtual reality glasses, since their cost plays a decisive role in consumer behavior. The average visitor to the shopping and entertainment centers doesn’t actually think about buying goods worth less than 500 rubles, acting impulsively under the influence of the wow effect, which makes it possible to introduce a wide range of people to virtual reality. In the future, people who have already become acquainted with virtual reality think about buying better middle-level glasses. So in fact, virtual reality cardboard glasses are the first level of the funnel, which allows you to make the widest coverage and profile ready-made customers for the further acquisition of a more durable design.
In the B2B market, it is also currently possible to talk about the leadership of low-level cardboard reality glasses. For events, for promotional gifts or for their own needs, companies choose low-level, since their cost allows them to immediately reach a wide range of consumers. For example, the organizer of one of the forums in Khakassia had a choice: to buy a plastic Fibrum virtual reality helmet, or to buy #VRCORP glasses. His choice focused on the second option, since for the same money it was possible to buy more points at once for many forum participants and give them these glasses as a memorable souvenir.
The realities of Russia are as follows: less than 20% of the open in the Oculus Rift shopping centers remains, many attractions are on the Internet for sale. The hopes of the first virtual reality enthusiasts for a quick take-off did not materialize. The amusement model has not justified itself: the rental price at the shopping center's passage is too high and the flow of visitors does not live up to expectations. Therefore, many of the pioneers have changed the field of activity, and the most courageous enthusiasts have switched to a promising niche: virtual reality clubs.
Virtual reality devices are actually going through a similar stage of development, which many household appliances underwent at one time. At a time when the foremost wonders of technology were not affordable for the average buyer, clubs flourished in lush colors, where the initial costs of purchasing goods were fought off due to the mass character of visitors. We remember examples from the 90s with video stores, when video players were not yet accessible to everyone, as well as computer clubs at every turn.
It is the virtual reality clubs that are now the most relevant area for entrepreneurs who have chosen for themselves the industry of services and entertainment in VR. At the same time, the initial costs of organizing such a club can be minimized by acquiring already used virtual reality glasses at a reduced cost, which are sold by former amusement owners. Or, as one of the options, this is the cooperation of former owners of amusement rides with the payment of rent for their equipment. Taking into account the fact that many of them have virtual reality equipment just gathering dust in the warehouse, waiting for the time they buy it, they will be very happy to have the opportunity to repay at least part of the costs right now through receiving rental payments. Here you can agree not just about renting, but about installment payments with the subsequent purchase of equipment.
Of course, the virtual reality club, which will be created in this way, will not be able to qualify for the elite, but it’s quite possible to fill your niche and start in sleeping areas.
The main direction of development of such clubs is to fill them with peripheral devices and gradually expand to a virtual reality amusement park, and a competitive advantage here can be obtained both by investing in the development of the technical base and by developing your own unique virtual reality applications that will be available in this club.
Leaders of the amusement market in the near future can be called virtual reality parks, which will ensure maximum immersion of visitors in a new wondrous world. This means not just a virtual reality helmet, but also a technical infrastructure for accurate positional tracking, as well as accompanying effects (sounds, cold, heat, water, etc.). Such parks can become an analogue of such entertainment as paintball and airsoft, as well as offer a new kind of joint leisure in the form of an interactive adventure. Currently, the main example of such a park is The Void, which demonstrated the possibilities of technical implementation and a successful business model.
Since over time, the cost of equipment will decline, virtual reality clubs, which will not invest in their development and growth to independent virtual reality parks with their own content, in the next 10-15 years will have the same sad future as in their time and computer games clubs .
In the list of industries already actively using virtual reality: video games, cinema, retail, real estate, education, medicine, military industry, engineering, advertising, and many others. The use of virtual reality is limited only by fantasy and economic benefits, so for developers there are many opportunities.
Game development
Of course, the first violin in the applications of virtual reality is played by a wide variety of games. However, in the video game market there are big players like Valve, for whom reorientation to the new market segment is not a big deal. Virtually every first major developer and publisher of video games has already announced their VR projects, so competing with them is a lot of work. On the other hand, if you have an idea of ​​a good game project, now is the time to implement it, because at the moment there is not so much good content for virtual reality glasses and there is a chance to get out if not in the first place, then at least in the top ten . Special attention here should be paid to the mobile applications market, in which good projects are critically few, and there are over 1,000,000 users.
Broadcast events in virtual reality
A significant income sports organizations receive not only from the sale of tickets for matches and advertising, but also from the sale of live broadcasts. The cost of a subscription to such broadcasts, for example, in the NFL is $ 60 per month. The format of virtual reality allows you to watch such broadcasts from the first person, which is an undoubted advantage for fans. The number of fans in this version does not depend on the number of seats in the stadium. The first widest broadcast in virtual reality can be called the broadcast of the Olympic Games 2016 in Rio, which led the channel NBC Sports. In Russia, the commercial possibilities of live broadcasts are still undervalued by sports organizations, but together with virtual reality this is a very good market segment for development.
Another promising market segment for broadcasting content in virtual reality is the media, which also have not fully appreciated the new opportunities. The easiest way for any media to enter this market is to train its journalists to create panoramic photos and upload them in a separate application or on a website adapted for viewing with virtual reality glasses. This is an opportunity for a global audience of over 1 million users to find themselves right at the scene of events, inspecting everything from the first person. Given the ease of creating such content, the media can create a competitive advantage by providing a scarce product that users around the world are looking for. Another more sophisticated technology is videotape in 360-degree format, which, like a panoramic photo, allows you to watch events from the first person. And especially worth noting the level of user confidence in the information received, when they can look at what is behind the frame of a camera or video camera and make their own judgment about the events.
Another promising market segment is the broadcast of travel, extreme events, wonders of the world and museums. The successful business model here is demonstrated by the Ascape application, which provides a wide choice of content: from the ability to visit North Korea, Kenya or Washington in virtual reality to a parachute jump or dive to the ocean floor. The cost of clips in the application is 65 rubles.
Movie
Many films in 2016 have already acquired trailers in the format of virtual reality, and cinema chains are actively announcing the imminent opening of cinema halls to watch movies in VR. For example, the company Netflix launched a promo clip of the series “Very Strange Things” (“Stranger Things”), the network of cinemas Luxor will open a special hall where virtual reality films will be shown and is now busy selecting the appropriate content, and IMAX is launching the center of virtual reality in Europe . All these events indicate the interest of the film industry in virtual reality and wide opportunities for young directors who are ready to work in new formats. Shooting and script in 360 format is completely different from the usual, because the action takes place right around the viewer. The director will have to think through subtle details, for example, how to draw attention to the event happening on the right when the viewer turned and looks to the left. But there are also wide opportunities for an unforgettable impression, for example, when the viewer turns his head and faces a terrifying monster from his terrible nightmares. Many people who are starting a career in the film industry should think about a new segment in this industry and already now create video content, at least in the form of short films for Youtube, in order to go to a big movie tomorrow.
Education and science
The possibilities of virtual reality are especially attractive for creating processes that are difficult to observe in the real world or are not readily available for widespread use. Examples include molecular interactions, as in the MoleculE VR application, chemical reactions, anatomical operations, technical operations with hazardous equipment (for example, equipment of a nuclear power plant). For example, students at a school in Elensberg are engaged with their leader, Kristin Jones. Each of them has virtual glasses in their eyes, and stylus in their hands. A biology class is taking place, and students cleverly stretch and divide the virtual frog into parts. This saves them from the need to dissect a real amphibian, as was done in the lessons of the "old" school. The most elementary and easily accessible example is walks in virtual reality in cities of the world in geography lessons that VR CORP regularly organizes for secondary school students. Unfortunately, budgets in schools are not so large as to massively purchase premium-class virtual reality equipment. Fortunately, there is a grant support system and companies with good experience working with government agencies can work together with school leaders to secure funding for a good project.
Culture and art
Museums are another successful option for promoting virtual reality content development services. Many museums already offer walks through their halls in the format of virtual reality. For example, in Google Arts & Culture or Sites in VR applications, virtual panoramas are easily accessible. However, this content already exists and is available for free, therefore the earning potential here is rather small. A good offer for any historical museum is a virtual journey, which allows you to learn more about the history of the exhibit. For example, for historical museums, this could be a visit to a historical battle site, an ancient dwelling, and so on. For art museums, a unique offer can be a journey inside the paintings. For example, the Salvador Dali Museum, located in the American city of St. Petersburg, invites its visitors to literally find themselves inside the painting “The Archaeological Echo of Angelius Millet”, owned by the great Spanish artist.
Construction and real estate
Many construction companies in Russia have already tasted the taste of virtual reality for the presentation of future real estate, which led to an increase in offers from many VR companies. Today, the construction market can be called the most competitive of the entire spectrum of industries where virtual reality content developers work. At the same time, the proportional ratio of the number of construction companies and VR agencies still remains the lowest compared to the presence of competition in many other industries. First of all, builders are attracted by the possibility of a clear demonstration of what is in fact not yet available, but what is required to be sold, as is often the case in investment equity construction. The commercial service of the developer and realtors can easily show the future house and its improvement where there is still bare earth, or to demonstrate various options for the interior of the future apartment where there are only bare walls. At the same time, the cost of such projects is rather small, which further increases the interest in their use. For example, the starting price of a service for developing such a project at VR CORP is only 15,990 rubles. The low threshold for entry into this market makes it very attractive to many VR companies and the main threat for the next 3-5 years will be increased competition, which will lead to low margins. Those who want to gain a foothold in this market should reinvest funds in the development of their own software solutions, connected not only with commercial, but also with engineering construction tasks, as it works in the case of BIM design.
Design, engineering and manufacturing processes
In contrast to the construction and real estate segment, very few Russian VR developers are currently working in the production and industry markets. And there are reasons for this. Despite the wide possibilities for designing and prototyping, there is no reliable data on the effectiveness of investments in these solutions. Developers who plan to enter this market should pay attention to the confirmation of their business proposal with analytical data to assess the return on investment. So far, all Russian virtual reality projects in the production and industrial sector are presented solely as an informational occasion for media coverage and are not accompanied by any analytics either by the company that implemented the project or by those who implemented it. Potentially attractive VR solutions for industrial and manufacturing companies can be:
A good study on the prospects of virtual reality in production was conducted by Sangsu Choi from the Institute for Graphic Interfaces IGI in collaboration with Iwook Jung from LG Electronics and Sang Do Noh from Sungkyunkwan University. The study is available for free access at www.researchgate.net .
The key players in this market are federal system integrators, who already have extensive contacts with manufacturing and industrial companies, and who already have the knowledge and experience in automating the production processes and tasks of their customers. For small VR companies, access to this market can be through close partnership with system integrators and, as a prospect, a merger, in which the entire VR team goes to the integrator and creates a new department. For both VR companies and system integrators, this is the shortest way to create their offer in the virtual reality market for production and industry.
Advertising and marketing
Another market where virtual reality has found wide application is advertising and marketing. Cases on the use of VR-technology in advertising are widely known and covered on many sites, so we will not describe them separately here. We will draw special attention to the key task of VR developers as they advance in this market. Basically, the commercial proposal concerns the wow-effect, which will be achieved through the use of virtual reality, but this is not a key customer need and does not find a response from experienced advertising specialists. It should offer a direct solution for the problems of advertising (for example, acquaint the target audience with a new product; establish long-term communication with a prospective customer; bring 100 direct customers to a retail store and so on).
For example, you can use the indicators below:
The most significant argument in the sale of its services will be the ratio of the invested budget per one attracted client.
Many VR companies will agree that their task is technical, not advertising. That is, ideally, the customer should formulate an advertising task, choose virtual reality as a tool and apply for a specific technical implementation. This position is undoubtedly the place to be, but then we are talking exclusively about passive sales. In the long term, VR companies with active promotion, understanding customer needs and able to offer creative scenarios will lead in this market.That is, in fact, creative VR-agencies that develop turnkey solutions. For exclusively technical companies, the best option is a close partnership with large full-time advertising agencies.
At the same time, the devices and applications themselves are further divided into two segments: desktop ones, which require a personal computer or a game console and mobile devices that work with a regular smartphone.
Virtual Reality Helmet Manufacturers
High-level virtual reality helmet manufacturers
')
The main players among the manufacturers of desktop virtual reality helmets are currently Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, Sony PlayStation VR.
Oculus Rift had a good start due to its superiority in the virtual reality market. Thanks to this, Oculus occupied a central position, uniting the Unity development environment and the peripheral developers around it. However, the difficulty with the compatibility of the versions of the SDK provided by Oculus for developers reduces their desire to participate in the development of new applications, which means that the dynamics of filling applications for this helmet will inevitably decrease. In addition, the competitor in the form of HTC Vive confidently equalized the score for all technical qualities and is ahead of the curve, providing new opportunities, such as direct synchronous movement in real and virtual space. We can say with confidence that in the near future of these two helmets, the leadership will take the HTC Vive, as a corporation with a longer technical experience and capabilities.
It is a bit incorrect to compare the Sony PlayStation VR with the previous two helmets, since this virtual reality helmet is aimed solely at gaming consoles, that is, they actually have a different target audience. However, taking into account established marketing communications with retail chains, Sony's virtual reality helmet is available in many stores, while sales of the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive are still conducted by retail enthusiasts. And this can just spur many to buy a game console and determine leadership in the virtual reality market as a whole.
Middle-level virtual reality helmet manufacturers.
Among the manufacturers of virtual reality glasses working with smartphones in Russia there are two main segments: up to one thousand rubles (low-level) and over one thousand rubles (middle-level).
The undisputed leader among the middle-level virtual reality devices is Samsung with its Gear VR. However, the latest news about the recall of the Note 7 smartphones due to spontaneous combustion, and the further refusal of Oculus Rift from the support dealt a serious blow to the company's reputation. Hardly any of the users would like the phone to explode right on their heads. The next manufacturer after Samsung should be called Fibrum. Not possessing special technical advantages in products, the company has built good marketing, participating in numerous events and developing its own branded mobile applications.
A serious contender for entering this market is Google with its Google Daydream VR platform, which they presented at a recent presentation. However, as practice in Russia shows in any case, Google rarely manages to get into the retail environment in order to talk about the mass consumption of its products. Let's see what happens this time and whether Google will succeed in defeating Samsung in the competition for retail chains.
Manufacturers of virtual reality helmets low-leve l.
To the low-level segment, we include Google Cardboard virtual reality glasses and their numerous copies worth less than one thousand rubles. The main channel for selling such glasses is the Internet; in most cases, customers order them through AliExpress from numerous Chinese manufacturers. The leaders of the Russian market of cardboard virtual reality glasses for smartphones certainly include VR CORP. Unlike any other manufacturers, including Google, virtual reality glasses #VRCORP are delivered immediately in the assembled design form, due to which VR CORP managed to leave the Internet on the retail market in shopping and entertainment centers and sell over 4,000 units in 2016.
Market development
If we talk about the dynamics of development in all three segments (high-level, middle-level, low-level), then it can be noted that for the Russian average consumer, high-level devices costing over $ 600 are not affordable, which severely limits sales growth, especially in conditions when virtual reality is still 2-3 years to the peak of popularity, when more than 50% of the population will know about it.
Most of the sellers of premium-class virtual reality glasses have already encountered this: the number of sales, as practice shows, rarely exceeds 1-2 per month, and the profit level varies between 10-20%, which does not allow to get enough profit to compensate for the waiting time of financial result. Therefore, at the moment the most successful are stores offering a wide range of virtual reality glasses of all levels and a variety of gadgets to work with them. In this case, those of the retailers who entrenched in the market should consider the threat in the form of large retail chains. As soon as the market shows steady demand, virtual reality products will instantly appear in their sale, and streamlined distribution channels will allow them to easily compete on price.
At the moment, good markets are virtual reality clubs, as well as industries that require high-quality simulation. Of course, first of all, these are educational centers at commercial organizations of the energy, industry, and medicine sectors. Many analysts point to the attractiveness of virtual reality for real estate, however, as practice shows, designers and developers are not willing to spend more than 100,000 rubles. solely for the wow effect in marketing action.
Sales in the Russian retail segment will soon compete in the middle-level and low-level virtual reality glasses. The first will have good performance in terms of cash sales, and the second in terms of sales in physical terms. However, the main driver for the growth of the popularity of virtual reality are and will be the near future low-level virtual reality glasses, since their cost plays a decisive role in consumer behavior. The average visitor to the shopping and entertainment centers doesn’t actually think about buying goods worth less than 500 rubles, acting impulsively under the influence of the wow effect, which makes it possible to introduce a wide range of people to virtual reality. In the future, people who have already become acquainted with virtual reality think about buying better middle-level glasses. So in fact, virtual reality cardboard glasses are the first level of the funnel, which allows you to make the widest coverage and profile ready-made customers for the further acquisition of a more durable design.
In the B2B market, it is also currently possible to talk about the leadership of low-level cardboard reality glasses. For events, for promotional gifts or for their own needs, companies choose low-level, since their cost allows them to immediately reach a wide range of consumers. For example, the organizer of one of the forums in Khakassia had a choice: to buy a plastic Fibrum virtual reality helmet, or to buy #VRCORP glasses. His choice focused on the second option, since for the same money it was possible to buy more points at once for many forum participants and give them these glasses as a memorable souvenir.
Amusement Rides
The realities of Russia are as follows: less than 20% of the open in the Oculus Rift shopping centers remains, many attractions are on the Internet for sale. The hopes of the first virtual reality enthusiasts for a quick take-off did not materialize. The amusement model has not justified itself: the rental price at the shopping center's passage is too high and the flow of visitors does not live up to expectations. Therefore, many of the pioneers have changed the field of activity, and the most courageous enthusiasts have switched to a promising niche: virtual reality clubs.
Virtual reality devices are actually going through a similar stage of development, which many household appliances underwent at one time. At a time when the foremost wonders of technology were not affordable for the average buyer, clubs flourished in lush colors, where the initial costs of purchasing goods were fought off due to the mass character of visitors. We remember examples from the 90s with video stores, when video players were not yet accessible to everyone, as well as computer clubs at every turn.
It is the virtual reality clubs that are now the most relevant area for entrepreneurs who have chosen for themselves the industry of services and entertainment in VR. At the same time, the initial costs of organizing such a club can be minimized by acquiring already used virtual reality glasses at a reduced cost, which are sold by former amusement owners. Or, as one of the options, this is the cooperation of former owners of amusement rides with the payment of rent for their equipment. Taking into account the fact that many of them have virtual reality equipment just gathering dust in the warehouse, waiting for the time they buy it, they will be very happy to have the opportunity to repay at least part of the costs right now through receiving rental payments. Here you can agree not just about renting, but about installment payments with the subsequent purchase of equipment.
Of course, the virtual reality club, which will be created in this way, will not be able to qualify for the elite, but it’s quite possible to fill your niche and start in sleeping areas.
The main direction of development of such clubs is to fill them with peripheral devices and gradually expand to a virtual reality amusement park, and a competitive advantage here can be obtained both by investing in the development of the technical base and by developing your own unique virtual reality applications that will be available in this club.
Leaders of the amusement market in the near future can be called virtual reality parks, which will ensure maximum immersion of visitors in a new wondrous world. This means not just a virtual reality helmet, but also a technical infrastructure for accurate positional tracking, as well as accompanying effects (sounds, cold, heat, water, etc.). Such parks can become an analogue of such entertainment as paintball and airsoft, as well as offer a new kind of joint leisure in the form of an interactive adventure. Currently, the main example of such a park is The Void, which demonstrated the possibilities of technical implementation and a successful business model.
Since over time, the cost of equipment will decline, virtual reality clubs, which will not invest in their development and growth to independent virtual reality parks with their own content, in the next 10-15 years will have the same sad future as in their time and computer games clubs .
Virtual reality content development
In the list of industries already actively using virtual reality: video games, cinema, retail, real estate, education, medicine, military industry, engineering, advertising, and many others. The use of virtual reality is limited only by fantasy and economic benefits, so for developers there are many opportunities.
Game development
Of course, the first violin in the applications of virtual reality is played by a wide variety of games. However, in the video game market there are big players like Valve, for whom reorientation to the new market segment is not a big deal. Virtually every first major developer and publisher of video games has already announced their VR projects, so competing with them is a lot of work. On the other hand, if you have an idea of ​​a good game project, now is the time to implement it, because at the moment there is not so much good content for virtual reality glasses and there is a chance to get out if not in the first place, then at least in the top ten . Special attention here should be paid to the mobile applications market, in which good projects are critically few, and there are over 1,000,000 users.
Broadcast events in virtual reality
A significant income sports organizations receive not only from the sale of tickets for matches and advertising, but also from the sale of live broadcasts. The cost of a subscription to such broadcasts, for example, in the NFL is $ 60 per month. The format of virtual reality allows you to watch such broadcasts from the first person, which is an undoubted advantage for fans. The number of fans in this version does not depend on the number of seats in the stadium. The first widest broadcast in virtual reality can be called the broadcast of the Olympic Games 2016 in Rio, which led the channel NBC Sports. In Russia, the commercial possibilities of live broadcasts are still undervalued by sports organizations, but together with virtual reality this is a very good market segment for development.
Another promising market segment for broadcasting content in virtual reality is the media, which also have not fully appreciated the new opportunities. The easiest way for any media to enter this market is to train its journalists to create panoramic photos and upload them in a separate application or on a website adapted for viewing with virtual reality glasses. This is an opportunity for a global audience of over 1 million users to find themselves right at the scene of events, inspecting everything from the first person. Given the ease of creating such content, the media can create a competitive advantage by providing a scarce product that users around the world are looking for. Another more sophisticated technology is videotape in 360-degree format, which, like a panoramic photo, allows you to watch events from the first person. And especially worth noting the level of user confidence in the information received, when they can look at what is behind the frame of a camera or video camera and make their own judgment about the events.
Another promising market segment is the broadcast of travel, extreme events, wonders of the world and museums. The successful business model here is demonstrated by the Ascape application, which provides a wide choice of content: from the ability to visit North Korea, Kenya or Washington in virtual reality to a parachute jump or dive to the ocean floor. The cost of clips in the application is 65 rubles.
Movie
Many films in 2016 have already acquired trailers in the format of virtual reality, and cinema chains are actively announcing the imminent opening of cinema halls to watch movies in VR. For example, the company Netflix launched a promo clip of the series “Very Strange Things” (“Stranger Things”), the network of cinemas Luxor will open a special hall where virtual reality films will be shown and is now busy selecting the appropriate content, and IMAX is launching the center of virtual reality in Europe . All these events indicate the interest of the film industry in virtual reality and wide opportunities for young directors who are ready to work in new formats. Shooting and script in 360 format is completely different from the usual, because the action takes place right around the viewer. The director will have to think through subtle details, for example, how to draw attention to the event happening on the right when the viewer turned and looks to the left. But there are also wide opportunities for an unforgettable impression, for example, when the viewer turns his head and faces a terrifying monster from his terrible nightmares. Many people who are starting a career in the film industry should think about a new segment in this industry and already now create video content, at least in the form of short films for Youtube, in order to go to a big movie tomorrow.
Education and science
The possibilities of virtual reality are especially attractive for creating processes that are difficult to observe in the real world or are not readily available for widespread use. Examples include molecular interactions, as in the MoleculE VR application, chemical reactions, anatomical operations, technical operations with hazardous equipment (for example, equipment of a nuclear power plant). For example, students at a school in Elensberg are engaged with their leader, Kristin Jones. Each of them has virtual glasses in their eyes, and stylus in their hands. A biology class is taking place, and students cleverly stretch and divide the virtual frog into parts. This saves them from the need to dissect a real amphibian, as was done in the lessons of the "old" school. The most elementary and easily accessible example is walks in virtual reality in cities of the world in geography lessons that VR CORP regularly organizes for secondary school students. Unfortunately, budgets in schools are not so large as to massively purchase premium-class virtual reality equipment. Fortunately, there is a grant support system and companies with good experience working with government agencies can work together with school leaders to secure funding for a good project.
Culture and art
Museums are another successful option for promoting virtual reality content development services. Many museums already offer walks through their halls in the format of virtual reality. For example, in Google Arts & Culture or Sites in VR applications, virtual panoramas are easily accessible. However, this content already exists and is available for free, therefore the earning potential here is rather small. A good offer for any historical museum is a virtual journey, which allows you to learn more about the history of the exhibit. For example, for historical museums, this could be a visit to a historical battle site, an ancient dwelling, and so on. For art museums, a unique offer can be a journey inside the paintings. For example, the Salvador Dali Museum, located in the American city of St. Petersburg, invites its visitors to literally find themselves inside the painting “The Archaeological Echo of Angelius Millet”, owned by the great Spanish artist.
Construction and real estate
Many construction companies in Russia have already tasted the taste of virtual reality for the presentation of future real estate, which led to an increase in offers from many VR companies. Today, the construction market can be called the most competitive of the entire spectrum of industries where virtual reality content developers work. At the same time, the proportional ratio of the number of construction companies and VR agencies still remains the lowest compared to the presence of competition in many other industries. First of all, builders are attracted by the possibility of a clear demonstration of what is in fact not yet available, but what is required to be sold, as is often the case in investment equity construction. The commercial service of the developer and realtors can easily show the future house and its improvement where there is still bare earth, or to demonstrate various options for the interior of the future apartment where there are only bare walls. At the same time, the cost of such projects is rather small, which further increases the interest in their use. For example, the starting price of a service for developing such a project at VR CORP is only 15,990 rubles. The low threshold for entry into this market makes it very attractive to many VR companies and the main threat for the next 3-5 years will be increased competition, which will lead to low margins. Those who want to gain a foothold in this market should reinvest funds in the development of their own software solutions, connected not only with commercial, but also with engineering construction tasks, as it works in the case of BIM design.
Design, engineering and manufacturing processes
In contrast to the construction and real estate segment, very few Russian VR developers are currently working in the production and industry markets. And there are reasons for this. Despite the wide possibilities for designing and prototyping, there is no reliable data on the effectiveness of investments in these solutions. Developers who plan to enter this market should pay attention to the confirmation of their business proposal with analytical data to assess the return on investment. So far, all Russian virtual reality projects in the production and industrial sector are presented solely as an informational occasion for media coverage and are not accompanied by any analytics either by the company that implemented the project or by those who implemented it. Potentially attractive VR solutions for industrial and manufacturing companies can be:
- Collaboration in a common virtual space on design, prototyping, modeling of maintenance processes, product assembly and production processes. The solution should support libraries of 3D objects and work with CAD / PLM data sets. The most convenient way for the user to implement is to develop a plug-in for existing CreoView, Solidworks, Autodesk Inventor, Collada, and so on.
- Geological modeling and visualization of spatial data associated with existing BIM and GIS systems.
A good study on the prospects of virtual reality in production was conducted by Sangsu Choi from the Institute for Graphic Interfaces IGI in collaboration with Iwook Jung from LG Electronics and Sang Do Noh from Sungkyunkwan University. The study is available for free access at www.researchgate.net .
The key players in this market are federal system integrators, who already have extensive contacts with manufacturing and industrial companies, and who already have the knowledge and experience in automating the production processes and tasks of their customers. For small VR companies, access to this market can be through close partnership with system integrators and, as a prospect, a merger, in which the entire VR team goes to the integrator and creates a new department. For both VR companies and system integrators, this is the shortest way to create their offer in the virtual reality market for production and industry.
Advertising and marketing
Another market where virtual reality has found wide application is advertising and marketing. Cases on the use of VR-technology in advertising are widely known and covered on many sites, so we will not describe them separately here. We will draw special attention to the key task of VR developers as they advance in this market. Basically, the commercial proposal concerns the wow-effect, which will be achieved through the use of virtual reality, but this is not a key customer need and does not find a response from experienced advertising specialists. It should offer a direct solution for the problems of advertising (for example, acquaint the target audience with a new product; establish long-term communication with a prospective customer; bring 100 direct customers to a retail store and so on).
For example, you can use the indicators below:
- to advertise retail stores: the action with virtual reality glasses of fashion boutique TopShop attracted about 100 people, and more than a dozen articles appeared in the press, including Wired and The Times.
- for car dealerships: a test drive of a Volvo car in a 360-degree format received over 150,000 hits on YouTube and about 150 people downloaded the application on Google Play.
The most significant argument in the sale of its services will be the ratio of the invested budget per one attracted client.
Many VR companies will agree that their task is technical, not advertising. That is, ideally, the customer should formulate an advertising task, choose virtual reality as a tool and apply for a specific technical implementation. This position is undoubtedly the place to be, but then we are talking exclusively about passive sales. In the long term, VR companies with active promotion, understanding customer needs and able to offer creative scenarios will lead in this market.That is, in fact, creative VR-agencies that develop turnkey solutions. For exclusively technical companies, the best option is a close partnership with large full-time advertising agencies.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/318868/
All Articles