A new forecast by ABI Research suggests that virtual reality will “usher in an era of interactive and immersive content” led by 360º video, making $6 billion in revenue by the year 2022.
360-degree video has already begun to make appearances across a range of media genres such as sports, news and music television. Meanwhile, Netflix debuted interactive, “choose your own adventure” storytelling this year with kids shows Puss in Boots and Buddy Thunderstruck.
Sam Rosen, Managing Director and VP at ABI Research said,
“Immersive content promises to marry Hollywood style content, tapping into the production elements of video games. New technologies exist to conduct fully spatial and/or light field mapping of spaces, as well as to generate holographic models of actors.
Combining these techniques with artist-generated layers and interactive storytelling elements, such as speech synthesis, opens the door to using gaming technologies to deliver immersive entertainment to large audiences.
Early on, content will probably only target location-based VR installations, but broader reach of the genre could come when a larger number of standalone VR headsets launch in 2018”.
360º video still has many technological hurdles to overcome, such as its requirements for higher amounts of resolution to deliver the panoramic image and low latency to avoid a sub-par user experience.
