Immersive Content: Creating, Defining and Valuing Experience
A set of three reports highlighting key trends in the UK’s immersive ecosystem and practical advice for virtual and augmented reality (VR/AR) players
Digital Catapult has launched a set of three reports highlighting key trends in the UK’s immersive ecosystem. Guidance to maintain Britain’s leadership in immersive content creation, contained in the reports, aims to keep production world class and British companies healthy in a complex, early stage VR/AR market.
The report set has been produced in partnership by Digital Catapult with Limina Immersive, Opposable Group and Tech Spark, Nesta and i2 Media Research. These publications feature a number of case studies, interviews with top UK immersive content makers from different industry sectors and insights from lab trials.
The first report, Immersive Content Formats for Future Audiences, conducted by Limina Immersive, takes a look back at the range of creative, immersive content experiences released in the last five years, identifying patterns, trends and insights to emerging formats. Those with the biggest potential to capture the general public are identified, such as Immersive maker tool, Activity stimulator and Fantasy trip, with 15 creative format trends leading the way with audiences.
Catherine Allen, CEO, Limina Immersive, says: ‘As the immersive media sector grows, so does the need for a shared language and a way of categorising content from a creative perspective. Working with Digital Catapult, we examined the opportunity for Britain’s immersive experience creators. By providing both creative inspiration and a shared language, we hope to support UK companies in maintaining leadership in developing the most engaging material for audiences around the world’.
The second report in the series, Creative Tools and Workflows for Immersive Content Creation, written by Opposable Group and TechSpark, asks ten of the top UK immersive content makers to explain in detail how they make their content. The result is a snapshot of workflows and examples for others in the market to follow. The final report, Evaluating Immersive User Experience and Audience Impact, conducted by Nesta and i2 Media Research, considers a research methodology for testing and evaluating experimental immersive content being made now, in order to help predict potential audience appetite, cultural impact, and commercial opportunity in the future.
Innovate UK’s recent Knowledge Transfer Network report on The Immersive Economy maps out Britain’s immersive sector, predicting around 1,000 immersive-specialist companies with an expected turnover up to £1 billion this year. Britain is thought to represent 9% of global market share and concedes leadership only to the US.
Rebecca Gregory-Clarke, Lead Technologist for Immersive at Digital Catapult, says: ‘The flurry of creative content innovation over the last few years has led to a wealth of brilliant and varied experiences. The challenge now is to draw insight from them to make the next generation of content even better. By helping new players take rapid advantage of Britain’s immersive leadership, our creative economy will continue to grow at pace. ’
Digital Catapult is contributing to the UK’s immersive sector by providing access to the latest AR/VR equipment in its nationwide network of Immersive Labs. Together with partners in 2017 the organisation has also launched Dimension, a world-leading and the first volumetric capture studio in the UK.
To find out more about the UK immersive sector, please visit: https://www.digicatapult.org.uk/technologies/immersive
Find the reports below:
Immersive Content Formats for Future Audiences
Evaluating Immersive User Experience and Audience Impact
Creative Tools and Workflows for Immersive Content Creation
A version of this article was originally published on DigiCatapult.org.uk.
