What introducing 360 video at a newspaper taught me about the future of VR journalism
For the past eight weeks, I’ve been trying to introduce 360 video at a Danish newspaper. I’ve had mixed success.
In this blog post I will identify and reflect on the challenges I have met. I think the obstacles that are impeding widespread adoption at Ekstra Bladet reflect the immediate challenges journalism has to conquer if 360 video is to be part of our toolkit in the foreseeable future, as well as some unpleasant but fundamental questions we have to ask about our audience.
A word on the background. I am currently finishing up a two-month stint at Ekstra Bladet as a Google News Lab Fellow. Ekstra Bladet is a Danish tabloid and the Danish news site with the most unique users. The Google News Lab Fellowship is a fellowship for recent graduates that aims to foster innovation at legacy media organizations. In short, Google is paying me to introduce 360 journalism to Denmark.
It’s fertile ground: With very few exceptions, the Danish media still has not adopted 360 video. Ekstra Bladet has a big digital focus and, as a tabloid, it sees emotional, relatable stories that focus on individuals as part of its DNA.
The successes
The pay section of www.ekstrabladet.dk has seen some 360 content — quite good content, in my biased opinion. Our Samsung Gear 360 cameras have been flying high in plane gliders and descending into the metro tunnels of Copenhagen; they’ve showcased the cutest monkeys at the local zoo and documented the horrors of Auschwitz.
The 360 content has been well received, qualitatively, but it has not pulled blockbuster audiences. This is partly due to decisions made by Ekstra Bladet, such as putting the content behind a pay wall and not pushing the content on social media, but it also points to difficulties in getting people to actually engage with 360 content.
360 journalism is now a part of the toolbox of select journalists and photographers at Ekstra Bladet. But will we see sustained production of 360 videos there? I have my doubts.
The challenges
I see four main factors that impede a sustained push in 360 production.
- We can’t monetize the strength of VR
There is some early evidence that “360 video drives viewers to share, subscribe, and view other videos” and “motivates viewers to watch more and interact,” resulting in longer view times. My experiments have not given me any data to support or discard this hypothesis. What 360 video does not seem to do, however, is automatically lead to more clicks.
That’s a problem. Ekstra Bladet’s business model is primarily based on clicks; therefore our successes are measured in clicks. Long view times and high interaction should be interesting to advertisers, but until we start selling our ads on that basis, we can’t monetize the strength of 360 videos.
2. Distribution
There is no set distribution solution that just works across platforms. YouTube videos do not play as 360 on iOS Safari; if we use Vimeo, the iOS user has to download the app. OmniVirt works on Safari, but does not work on Firefox; and so on and so forth.
Using 360 photos is also an attractive option, due to the ease of use. But what platform allows you to publish 360 pictures and easily attach images and text? Just to experiment with ThingLink costs $1,500 (the company does offer a “money back within 14 days” option). Vragments’ Fader would probably be a great bet (I’ve written positively about it before), but it’s in beta stage and not yet customizable enough to meet the demands of a legacy news organization with a recognizable visual brand identity.
3. Journalists are busy people
Across the newsroom, the reaction to the prospect of 360 videos was stimulating. The news editor brimmed with ideas; the commercial director started thinking of ways to profit. But making news can be likened to factory work. Journalists go to work, fight their best to get a good story nailed down and go back home. Learning a new tool with an insecure future is not a priority. Unless you have the necessary funding to experiment (and experimenting should often mean failing; otherwise you might be doing it wrong), time will be a very scarce resource.
4. “Another tool”
When you’re sitting behind a desk, strategizing, it’s easy to see how 360 video can enhance a story. Recently, Copenhagen has been plagued with gun-wielding gangs in a showdown. An Ekstra Bladet reporter could easily bring along the Gear 360 and take a still shot of the crime scene with police cars, ambulances and bullet holes. Add some quick annotations and you’ve got a great element that adds to your story.
Easy to plan from behind the desk. But it’s quite another story when you’re out in the field, trying to make sense of the scene, sort out the facts and get the right quotes from the right people. Maybe you’ve also been tasked with keeping a ScribbleLive updated and a bit of tweeting. We put a lot of demands on journalists as it is; asking reporters not dedicated to the medium to bring along a 360 camera is not an insignificant request.
VR or 360?
The way I see it, journalists interested in VR are currently stuck in an uncomfortable tight spot between VR and 360.
The true potential of VR for journalists lies in the complete immersion that a headset offers. I reckon all 360-producing journalists were initially blown away by experiencing actual VR — I was, at least. Unfortunately, few members of our audience have the headsets, so at the moment we’re resigning ourselves to producing content for magic windows. What luck that the videos can be seen on Facebook and YouTube, I’ve often thought; it buys us time.
Watching content in magic windows belies the true potential of VR. In my opinion, we’re fooling ourselves if we think 360 video experienced through magic windows is a game changer.
We’re collectively kicking the virtual can down the road, hoping that we’re developing a know-how that will allow us to capitalize when the breakthrough comes, the masses don headsets and the game truly is changed.
But will that breakthrough come?
We might currently be experiencing a “VR winter” — what a great term, especially as it implies that summer will come — but I’m becoming less convinced that journalism will be a significant part of the summer.
I’m asking myself, how many of the 360 pieces that are being produced at the moment would I willingly go through the headset hassle to watch immersed? I love a good immersive piece, but the effort of putting on a headset, even if it’s just a Google Cardboard, is so big that I rarely do it. Why? Exactly for the reason that VR is so exciting. We’re not just giving away our time; we’re surrendering our reality. I’m willing to do that only if I’m confident the experience is going to be great.
Is a consumer ready to enter into a world of our making, to watch a news piece? For niche users I can see it: I would definitely have loved the option to be teleported into the G20 violence in Hamburg, where I’ve previously lived, to see how bad the situation was. But generally speaking, I think humans are reluctant to surrender control of their reality.
If they are to do it, I think the content needs to be amazing — and great video content tends to be the domain of specialists with time, advanced skills and resources, and not the lot of eternally time-pressed journalists.
Am I overly pessimistic? After all, American media companies are still spending significant resources on VR. Time, for example. The other day I was struck by this quote in Laura Hertzfeld’s excellent interview with LIFE VR’s Mia Tramz:
“One of the things I think about a lot is the state of the industry at large. Media and news media are struggling more than we ever have before: How do we keep our ships afloat? How do we keep the revenue stream? How do we increase revenue? And I don’t think you can think about VR without considering the diversion of resources.”
Should media spend significant resources on VR, with its very limited audience reach, or should news organizations be focusing their scarce resources on the kind of journalism that no one else can do better? Yes, that was a very rhetorical question.
I am as confident as ever that nonfiction VR has enormous potential. I have no plans to leave the field; summer is coming. But my time at Ekstra Bladet has left me less certain that its potential will be reached within legacy news media organizations.
