LAS VEGAS — USA Today is currently in production on a second “season” of its\u00a0own virtual reality series, as it gears up to offer brands new ways to sell into the medium.<\/p>\n

A year ago at the Consumer Electronics Show, chief revenue officer Kevin Gentzel<\/a> announced<\/a>\u00a0to Beet.TV the company would be making daily VR\u00a0content. Now USA Today has a weekly show, VRtually There<\/a>, plus ad hoc productions and sponsor content in its VR strand<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A year later, Gentzel tells Beet.TV: The show has been a huge success, we\u2019ve built a loyal audience already. Our shows are seeing millions of views by users across devices … on the touch web in 360 experiences, utilising (Google) Cardboard and all the way through the VR hardware space to Rift and Vive.<\/p>\n

“In season two, which we\u2019re currently shooting, we\u2019re going to focus on three content themes\u2026<\/p>\n

\n
• “VIP experiences – what it\u2019s like to be backstage at a July 4th fireworks show.<\/li>\n
• “Hardcore adventure experiences – what it\u2019s like to be swimming with sharks\u2026<\/li>\n
• “American experiences like the American ballet theatre.”<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

  So far, USA Today’s VR play has focused on visual\u00a0spectacle over out-and-out storytelling. Perhaps\u00a0such a tactic more naturally fits the novel medium than\u00a0reportage.<\/p>\n

  The first live production<\/a> under the VRtually There strand is the inauguration of new US president Donald Trump.<\/p>\n

  The publisher isn’t just producing editorial content, it\u00a0also wants to\u00a0make VR content for brand sponsors. Last year,\u00a0Toyota, Macy\u2019s, Amazon and Alcatel all paid USA Today for VR. For example:<\/p>\n

  \n
  • USA Today’s\u00a0recent VR trip around Talinn, Estonia<\/a>, includes pre-roll and mid-roll for Toyota.<\/li>\n
  • Its VR video putting viewers inside a burning building<\/a> includes sponsorship from Nest, but outside of the video unit entirely.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    But USA Today has also built an ad format it’s calling the “cubemercial<\/a>“, for creating\u00a0advertiser experiences inside the VR content itself.<\/p>\n

    Next up, Gentzel\u00a0thinks brands are going to want to offer\u00a0VR experiences through the publisher. “You\u2019ll see us experiment more in 2017, likely to include experiential experiences for brands,” he tells Beet.TV. “Courageous brands are stepping up, saying \u2018we want to experiment with this\u2019.”<\/p>\n

    USA Today is on the cusp of discovering what works in this new medium. But it’s likely publishers and brands alike are going to be sensitive to over-delivery of advertising in what is a highly intimate media environment.<\/p>\n

    This video was produced as part Beet.TV’s coverage of CES 2017 presented by 605<\/a>. \u00a0For more videos from the series, please visit this page<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    LAS VEGAS — USA Today is currently in production on a second “season” of its\u00a0own virtual reality series, as it gears up to offer brands new ways to sell into the medium. A year ago at the Consumer Electronics Show, chief revenue officer Kevin Gentzel announced\u00a0to Beet.TV the company would be making daily VR\u00a0content. Now […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"mc4wp_mailchimp_campaign":[]},"categories":[6105],"tags":[4155,4992],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.beet.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44283"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.beet.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.beet.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.beet.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.beet.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44283"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dev.beet.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44283\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.beet.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44283"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.beet.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44283"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.beet.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44283"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}