V I R T U A L E N T E R T A I N M E N T A N D M A R K E T I N G
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S o c i a l m e d i a<br />
B r a n d s<br />
Facebook’s $2<br />
billion purchase<br />
of Oculus VR<br />
suggests the<br />
potential for<br />
social media in VR.<br />
At the time of the acquisition, Facebook<br />
CEO Mark Zuckerberg stated that the<br />
company expected to profit from the<br />
deal through advertising, software,<br />
and services. Facebook’s reputation<br />
for working with advertisers, however,<br />
inspired criticism about the prevalence<br />
of ads that might litter VR. While it<br />
is highly probable that advertising<br />
will be integrated within Oculus’s VR<br />
content, the best advertising in VR will<br />
be content that users actively desire to<br />
experience. For instance, a brand can<br />
target its Facebook “fans” and drive<br />
these fans to actively want to experience<br />
(and re-experience) the brand’s VR<br />
content. Facebook’s infrastructure can<br />
further drive global adoption of VR if<br />
an ecosystem for content is developed.<br />
Lastly, motion-tracking software in VR<br />
will provide Facebook with another data<br />
measurement tool of user behavior.<br />
For brands,<br />
VR encourages<br />
visceral consumer<br />
experiences that<br />
will be actively<br />
sought out by<br />
consumers rather<br />
than interrupting<br />
them.<br />
That is, VR will help make advertising<br />
attractive to consumers through<br />
advertising that works like content.<br />
For example, a consumer might<br />
seek out a brand’s VR content if it<br />
offers a new experience. While all<br />
VR content will be a new experience<br />
to consumers when VR technology<br />
first becomes commercially available,<br />
the challenge will be in keeping this<br />
content innovative in the long-term.<br />
It seems likely, though, that branded<br />
content will also be made commercially<br />
available, which will generate further<br />
revenue. Finally, VR headsets’ motiontracking<br />
capabilities will define how<br />
users act in VR environments. Based<br />
on this, content can be more efficiently<br />
designed to maximize ad exposure and<br />
engagement.<br />
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