VB LIVE:
VR has sprouted a lot of startups, but not a whole lot of revenue yet. But with refined console headsets and mobile VR and mobile 360 growing more popular with consumers, it’s time to start thinking about a monetization strategy. Join the latest VB Live event to get started!
VR is the Sir Ian McKellen of technology. Virtual reality has been around for 60 years, and while there have been accolades thrown at it, miles and miles of words written about it, and a brigade of enthusiastic fans, somehow virtual reality has just never gotten the major recognition it deserves as the extraordinary, groundbreaking technology it is — similar to the way Gandalf has somehow never snagged an Oscar.
But it’s only now that investment in virtual reality has reached critical mass, analysts say. We’re just one killer app away from mass market adoption, and from the launch of real opportunity for companies who have been watching and waiting for virtual reality to become a viable marketing and sales channel, and the businesses poised to thrive in this new ecosystem.
In traditional media and entertainment there are three main business models: 1) premium, where users shell out up front for content; 2) ad-based and ad-driven; and 3) downloadable content. However, the most successful models are those that combine all three in ingenious ways that make consumers feel like their level of comfort with advertising and monetization is being respected, rather than feeling like they’re being spammed with irrelevant content.
In mobile, for instance, freemium with a combination of ads and in-app purchases is the powerhouse that generates over 95 percent of revenues. For consoles, downloadable and extended content plus microtransactions are the big money makers, because they offer consumers a great deal of value in exchange for their money.
But virtual reality is an entirely new way of interacting with content, a fundamentally different immersive, 360-degree environment where consumers are literally submerged in the messages you deliver, and a new technology that doesn’t yet have a history of safety and security when it comes to a consumer’s payment methods.
If you’re delivering ads, will your users be willing to literally wade through your advertisements? How do you make that marketing content as engrossing and immersive? And will they trust a virtual reality payment method, or is the technology too new to engender consumer confidence?
But of course, this all depends on two very important catalysts: The emergence of a healthy ecosystem that’s producing content to spark consumer demand, and major adoption of devices across the world.
How close are we to that tipping point? What are consumers looking for, what do they need to make up their minds, and how do you capture their attention once they do? Join this VB Live event!
In this VB Live event, you’ll learn about:
- The future of VR payments, commerce, and innovation
- How payments technology is revolutionizing VR/AR experiences
- The challenges that emerge from the consumer and merchant side
- The global perspective of VR/AR and where it is headed
Speakers:
- Stewart Rogers, Director of Marketing Technology, VB
- Cleveland Brown, CEO, Payscout
- Charlie Fink, VR columnist, Forbes
