Promising prospects for VR live streaming. What opportunities do entrepreneurs have in the field of VR live streaming?

Whether it is technology-oriented hardware, algorithms and other issues, or art-oriented shooting techniques, they are all issues that can be solved over time. They may delay the outbreak of the VR live broadcast market, but they will never be the VR live broadcast market. ceiling. What more people entering the VR live broadcast industry may need to consider is who should VR live broadcast solve what needs?

Original title: What opportunities does VR live broadcasts that grow in questioning and capital chasing leave for entrepreneurs?

Liu Yan's VR live broadcast on Zanthoxylum bungeanum attracted more people to pay attention to this field. Liu Yan's live broadcast started in just 30 minutes, and his fans have followed him more than 4 million. During the two-hour live broadcast, a total of 6 million people watched the live broadcast online at the same time. For thousands of otaku people, VR live broadcasts provide an opportunity to get close to the goddess, which is a first-taste experience for ordinary people. After the popularity fades, who needs should VR live broadcasting solve?

The most direct impact of the combination of VR and Mobile Live Video Broadcasting is that it satisfies people's pursuit of a better visual experience. As Wu Yunsong, CEO of Zanthoxylum bungeanum, said,"VR live broadcast brings people closer to within one meter." Open the live broadcast App, select an anchor with VR live broadcast content, put your phone into your VR glasses, and the anchor will appear in front of you, as if he is communicating face-to-face with you.

VR technology was used earlier than Mobile Live Video Broadcasting was the live broadcast of important events and scenes such as live sports, live concerts, and live programs, allowing people to experience an atmosphere and look similar to that of the scene through VR equipment. "The moment I put on my VR glasses, it felt like I was actually at Oracle Stadium." A NextVR user described his experience after watching an NBA game.

VR live broadcast, another new favorite

In the eyes of many people, VR live broadcast is something more exciting than simple live broadcast. "When you watch VR, the social interaction between people changes. I think in the VR era, there will be an immersive experience."Wu Yunsong believes that VR will be a more advanced form of media. Being immersive and making people feel like they are in the scene is the biggest expectation for VR live broadcasting and an important opportunity that many companies want to occupy.

At the Qixiu Live Broadcast Conference held by iQiyi last week, Xu Binbin, general manager of iQiyi's Interactive Entertainment Division, said,"Qixiu will use VR technology extensively and deeply on Mobile Live Video Broadcasting, national live broadcasts, on some scenes live broadcasts, and on some program live broadcasts." It also launched the Qixiu iVR+ strategic cooperation with OKAA and Insta360. Zanthoxylum bungeanum Live Broadcast launched a VR live broadcast platform on June 7 and distributed 100,000 VR glasses for free.

In terms of event live broadcasts, Mango TV, Storm, Chinese Culture, LeTV, Youku, and have all joined the ranks of VR live broadcasts.

Mango TV conducted a VR live broadcast of the "Super Girl" conference in March this year. Using its experience accumulated in large-scale online surveys and large-scale overseas live broadcasts, Mango TV has conducted VR live broadcasts at events including the Golden Globe Awards, the Billboard Awards Ceremony, MBC's "Ballads Festival", the Seoul TV Festival and the OST concert. Try. In May, Mango TV and Magic Brush Ma Liang reached a strategic cooperation to combine the rich content owned by Mango TV with Magic Brush Ma Liang's VR technology accumulation to provide users with more immersive VR content experiences.

At the Storm Sports Strategy Conference held on June 7, Storm Sports announced that it would cooperate with MP&Silva and Everbright Securities to jointly build a new ecosystem of the world sports industry in the fields of sports copyright, content, Internet services and VR. Storm Sports has also launched a comprehensive sports VR content production solution, and has already launched in-depth cooperation with CBA to jointly explore VR content recording and playback.

In April, Chinese Culture announced that its Sports Olympic Power will join forces with Micro Whale TV to enter the field of VR content production for sports events, trying to provide VR live broadcast signals for sports events. The scope of broadcast events covers almost all important domestic football events such as China's national team, Chinese Super League, FA Cup, and Amateur Football League.

LeTV also has great ambitions in VR live broadcasting. LeTV Music plans to shoot/broadcast more than 100 VR Live concerts in 2016, with an average of 2 per week. It will also create a celebrity VR channel and launch a celebrity celebrity show every week. In 2015, LeSports introduced 360-degree panoramic views and other technologies in the live broadcast of the International Champions League. As the exclusive new media partner of the Super League, LeSports also plans to introduce VR and 360 panoramic views into the live broadcast of the Super League.

Youku also used VR technology to broadcast live the finals of the large-scale idol-development reality show "National Beauty Girl". The live program "Brother Hong's Sleepwalking" was launched from 7 a.m. on April 11. Yu Minhong conducted a 24-hour interactive mobile VR live broadcast that lasted for ten days. VR live content will also become an integral part of Youku's VR content strategy.

The entry of large platforms and large companies has made VR live broadcasts another favorite of capital. According to reports from foreign media Variety, NextVR, which was involved in this field earlier, plans to raise US$80 million with a valuation of US$800 million, of which US$20 million has been confirmed to be invested by CITIC Group. In addition, NextVR has also signed multi-year cooperation agreements with Fox Sports and Live Nation, and more live content will appear on NextVR's content list.

Technology can solve the

difficulties. Like most current VR projects, high-quality products for the C-terminal have not yet been popularized on a large scale, and the entire consumer group of VR content is still in the early stages of cultivation. The mixed market status and technical conditions have also made Many people are full of doubts about the current status of VR live broadcasts.

"At this stage, your input equipment and shooting equipment themselves are not mature. Output equipment, what can you see clearly if you put it in it now? If you shoot it in 360 degrees, unless you reach 8K or above (to see clearly), and if you have enough network transmission, these three conditions are not met. Isn't it just saying it's for VC to hear it?" Wu Yisong, CEO of Qiaoke Interactive, who is also an entrepreneur in the VR field, does not recognize the current VR live broadcast.

"VR live broadcast is more of a gimmick," Lei Tao, senior vice president of technology and head of a live broadcast product, also said in an interview."The current bandwidth situation is actually not very good for VR live broadcast. VR itself has bandwidth requirements. It has relatively high requirements. In addition, I don't think the current support for this kind of equipment is at all enough to be popularized, and it is far from reaching a mature period." He believes that the most important thing to understand technology at present is to do a good job in mobile live broadcasts.

Current doubts about VR live broadcasts mainly focus on the technical level. Yin Yuanjiang, CEO of Qiwei Technology, pointed out six major problems faced by VR live broadcasts at the Netease Future Technology Summit:

1. Real-time splicing technology;

2. Comfort to wear head-mounted displays;

3. Computing distribution technology and CDN costs in the codec cloud;

4. Limited bandwidth levels affect image quality and the number of people online;

5. The shooting method is single and lacks interactivity;

6. The market is narrow and the popularization will take time.

"In fact, most VR live broadcasts on the market can only be regarded as panoramic live broadcasts, and cannot be called VR live broadcasts at all. The current market share of the VR live broadcast market is far from reaching the order of 1+1=2." Although Qiwei Technology is a provider of VR live broadcast services and has developed a complete set of solutions for VR live broadcast, Yin Yuanjiang does not have a more optimistic view of the VR live broadcast market.

In terms of bandwidth costs alone, Chen Lei, CEO of CDN service provider Netcore Technology, once calculated a simple account to reporters: "Calculated at 1080p and more than 20 megabytes, today's VR experience 360-degree transmission per unit user The cost is 10 times the cost of today's TV users and 100 times the cost of mobile phone users. Iqiyi mobile phones have paying users, which cost 15 yuan or 30 yuan per month. To maintain the same profit margin, members need to pay 3000 yuan per month to watch VR."

However, whether it is the improvement of the experience of C-side hardware devices, the upgrade of shooting equipment and technology, or the reduction of content transmission bandwidth costs, they are only technical difficulties faced by VR live broadcasting. As the research deepens, we have reason to believe that technical issues will not become the ultimate reason that hinders the development of VR live broadcasting. At least we can see that NextVR already has the ability to produce video content with in-depth information.

VR live broadcasts are not enough to just put the machine here.

Similarly, how to shoot VR live broadcasts will also become an aspect that people question. Judging from the current experience, although the female anchor of Zanthoxylum bungeanum can maintain a near-face-to-face distance from the user, thus providing a certain degree of immersion, it can only be face-to-face contact, and the user's field of vision is limited to less than 180 degrees. In the field of view, when you turn around, you can see darkness left and right.

"Vertical 360 degrees plus horizontal 360 degrees, we think it may be easier for users to accept in the current market conditions and user experience." said Li Jiajun, general manager of Snail Cloud Computing. Previously, Snail had conducted a VR live broadcast of a surgical operation performed by Professor Zhang Changqing, a well-known domestic orthopedic surgeon at Shanghai Sixth People's Hospital. In Li Jiajun's introduction, they preferred to "live more exterior scenes and see the surrounding environment from one location.".

For a fierce football game played in a large venue, the usual practice of placing a camera next to the goalkeeper is imperfect. It not only keeps away from the players who are fiercely competing, but even the moment of scoring is difficult for users to grasp. "There is also a camera seat that is placed in the coach's seat, where the viewing angle is relatively good. But in fact it is not enough, because it is still relatively far away from what the audience wants to see. In fact, the audience wants to see more realistic, realistic and close scenes."

Similarly, compared with mature live TV broadcasts, we can see that although current VR live broadcasts can bring an immersive feeling, they still lack the rich impressions from different angles brought by live TV broadcasts with many seats. After all, VR live broadcasts are still difficult to make people see how many freckles there are on the faces of stars performing on the stage.

How to provide users with more experiential content through improving shooting techniques, so that VR live broadcasting can also become an art may be one of the directions to be explored by VR live broadcasting in the future. After all, people don't always need to try something new, but also need a truly excellent experience.

What exactly should VR live broadcasting satisfy?

Now it seems that VR live broadcast is more about solving the needs of otaku. This need is somewhat different from the sense of presence and immersion mentioned by many people. It meets the needs of otaku who are unwilling rather than unable to visit the scene. Wu Yunsong said when describing the scene of Zanthoxylum bungeanum testing VR live broadcast:

"When a beautiful woman really sits there, they will feel blushed and embarrassed to watch. They will put on glasses and watch there, and finally discover a very magical phenomenon. Upstairs and downstairs The entire floor was covered in an instant, but everyone was wearing glasses and watching there, and no one went up and said hello to the host, who am I?"

Wang Yang, CEO of 1A Entertainment, who has many years of experience in commercial performance, is trying to make live performances. In his opinion, the audience watching the live broadcast and the audience going to the scene are not the same:

"Before LeTV, I proposed live concerts. At that time, everyone thought that live concerts would affect the box office. I said, believe me and it would never affect it. There are two groups of people. I won't just watch this because the ticket price is 30 and that price is 300. That's not the case. Those who should go to the scene have to go."

"To be honest, the performance still has to be live. Live and TV are different, and live broadcasts and live broadcasts are different. What the concert perceives is the atmosphere of the scene and the ability to meet a living person who you think is close to you." Wang Yang said. Similarly, Wang Yu, COO of Fantasy Technology, also said:

"When we studied live broadcasts, we found that when users wear VR helmets, the content they themselves want to experience may be more private and can be involved in."

"Like football and concerts, the reason why I go to the scene is that I want to feel the atmosphere of the scene. In fact, listening to the sound on the scene may not be as good as listening to the sound at home. But that atmosphere is something I can't have at home, so if VR can leverage its strengths and circumvent its weaknesses in live broadcasts, embody the proximity of the scene and the interaction here, I think live broadcasts can reflect the advantages of VR. Otherwise, I might as well watch the traditional live broadcast of the game quietly at home."

What opportunities do entrepreneurs have in the field of VR live broadcasting?

VR live broadcasts are a large market demand. A research report by Goldman Sachs predicts that the number of VR live broadcasts users will reach 28 million in 2020, with a market revenue of US$750 million. The key to seizing the opportunity lies in the angle from which entrepreneurs enter the VR live broadcast market.

At the hardware level, both VR headsets and host VR are already a red sea, but entrepreneurs may still have opportunities in terms of consumer-grade VR input devices. Perfect Illusion, a panoramic camera manufacturer that partnered with First Video, Ant Vision, which partnered with Zanthoxylum bungeanum, and Iqiyi's partner Insta360 are all explorers in this field. In addition to meeting the needs of professional-level VR live broadcasts, how to meet the needs of ordinary people for VR live broadcasts may be more considered by entrepreneurs.

At the content level, companies with live broadcast content resources and high-quality content IP will have greater advantages in VR live broadcasts. Technology-based entrepreneurs will have more room for development in this field, such as 7D Technology and Danghong Technology. Companies can stand behind content IP owners and participate in the live broadcast of programs, competitions, and events by providing VR live broadcast technology solutions, but it is difficult for them to become the leader of entertaining VR live broadcasts.

At the application scenario level, entrepreneurs will have more opportunities to become leaders in a certain field. Taking education as an example, the combination of VR live broadcast and education can provide greater imagination to Internet education. Online education can break down barriers to uneven distribution of educational resources, but it is difficult to reproduce the real classroom experience, which will become a VR live broadcast entrepreneur. opportunity. Similarly, in fields such as the medical field, VR live broadcasts with a sense of presence will also be able to make more practical attempts.

No matter what the scene is, it provides users with a more realistic sense of presence and immersion, so that users can really experience the same atmosphere as the scene by wearing VR glasses, and do what they can do on the spot. This is the vast majority of people like Wang Yu who hope to meet through VR live broadcasts will also be the ultimate problem that many entrepreneurs in the VR live broadcast field need to remind themselves to solve at all times.

Editor: yvette