YouTube Knows You Want 360° Video Live Streams, And They Are Delivering
Originally published at linkedin.com on April 21, 2016.
In the last few months, social media has changed with new innovative features: different ways to react to a Facebook post, Snapchat’s competitive messaging software, etc. But perhaps the biggest tool that is available for marketers is virtual reality.
While still new, many consumers have been fond of the technology. For example, Star Wars: The Force Awakens rolled out “ an immersive 360 experience created exclusively for Facebook,” that allowed their viewers to speed across the Jakku desert in September 2015, as an introduction to the 360° features available to Facebook users. However, Facebook was seven months late to the game — YouTube introduced mainstream 360° video capability back in March 2015, but now they are extending to live virtual reality.
Watching VS Experiencing: The Fear Of Missing Out
When I asked students of Marketing Thought Leadership, a course I help facilitate at Berkeley-Haas, if they were aware about YouTube’s 360° video capabilities, around five of a forty student group admitted so. With a Samsung Gear VR, I was able to introduce a volunteering student to try Six Flag’s Tatsu activation. After the class demonstration, he said the expected phrase: “I felt like I was really there.”
Virtual reality lecture presented to Marketing Thought Leadership students.
But how do we expand upon this? While we have stored experiences that we can queue up on demand via YouTube, it is then that we cannot compete with events happening in the now. This is where the live stream aspect changes the game. People want to be in the event rather than hear about it on other social media platforms, a strategy that Snapchat Live stories has been currently dominating.
Did Kanye interrupt the show? Don’t retweet it, be the one to tweet it.
YouTube will launch 360° live stream video this weekend with their annual partnership with Coachella. Users will be able to watch it live via their YouTube Coachella 2016 tab. After all, YouTube’s previous Coachella 2D live streams have been allowing fans not at the festival to experience the event regardless of their location.
New Marketing Sells Experiences, Not Products
Not many users of the video-sharing website know that YouTube supports 360° video, which is perhaps their biggest challenge. As their 2016’s April Fool’s campaign, YouTube launched SnoopaVision, a quirky idea that allows any user to watch some of YouTube’s most notable videos right next to Snoop Dogg himself, with few guest appearances to keep Snoop company.
Specifically produced 360° video content, like SnoopaVision, aides in the immersion of the user. With Snoop Dogg as its early adopter, fans can now watch their favorite YouTube videos while hearing commentary from their old time favorite Snoop Dogg.
But this is just beginning: soon we can expect more companies to join in and the creative content produced will be astonishing. Perhaps you will find yourself standing next to your favorite basketball player as he makes his last shot before retiring; perhaps you will be standing next to Barack Obama as he finishes his term. Live stream events allow for that kind of interaction that sell you on an experience through a product, rather than the product itself. Just as Neal Mohan, Chief Product Officer at YouTube, said, “What were once limited experiences are now available to anyone, anywhere, at any time. Are you ready to never miss a moment again?” #BringItOn
Parting Thoughts
Companies are still experimenting with 360° videos and virtual reality. With YouTube’s latest service, the end products will be a Snapchat-esque 360° video where a brand’s storytelling will be a complete adventure to many of its users, all while live. Notable companies with spectacular storytelling, like Coca-Cola or Airbnb with their “ Live There” campaign, will see the advantage of such features and will produce immersive, engaging, and creative content that is sure to motivate many others to follow.
What is your stance on live virtual reality? What doors does it open for the digital marketing industry, and what companies are you expecting content from once the 360° live stream features rolls out on YouTube this weekend?
Got any thoughts to add? Tweet me @juliangumbo or comment below!
Julian Gamboa is a UC Berkeley graduate with a focus on marketing. Julian was selected as a LinkedIn Top Voice for Marketing and #Social Media (2017) and a Course Instructor of the marketing and digital publishing course Digital Marketing Today at the Haas School of Business. He is also the founder of Digiviewpoint, a millennial publishing account.
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