8Aug/16Off
The Olympics May Give Virtual Reality Its Long-Anticipated Close-Up NBC and Samsung will offer 85 hours of footage
The VR initiative went live on Saturday when the athletic competitions started in earnest in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The Olympics Broadcasting Services will capture 85 hours of VR programming for Samsung Gear VR users, which appears to be a growing audience as more than 1 million people tried the headset in April.
The VR footage will include action from men's basketball, gymnastics, track and field, beach volleyball, diving, boxing and fencing as NBC will offer highlight packages for those sports. The content will be supplied to NBC, which will help distribute it through the NBC Sports app.
To protect NBC's TV interests, the virtual reality programming will be presented on delay, ...
At any rate, how popular VR proves to be during the Olympics should give marketers a healthy perspective on how far along consumer adoption has come for such experiences.
Meanwhile, here's NBC's planned VR schedule for the next two weeks:
Aug. 8: Boxing prelims (10:00 a.m., 4:00 p.m.)
Aug. 9: Boxing prelims (10:00 a.m., 4:00 p.m.)
Aug. 10: Gymnastics, men's all-around (3:00 p.m.)
Aug. 11: Gymnastics, women's all-around (3:00 p.m.)
Aug. 12: Fencing, men's team foil (8:30 a.m., 4:00 p.m.)
Aug. 13: Track and field (8:30 a.m., 7:00 p.m.)
Aug. 14: Track and field (7:20 p.m.)
Aug. 15: Track and field (8:30 a.m., 7:15 p.m.)
Aug. 16: Track and field (8:30 a.m. 7:15 p.m.)
Aug. 17: Beach volleyball, women's medal matches (9:00 p.m.)
Aug. 18: Beach volleyball, men's medal matches (9:00 p.m.)
Aug. 19: Basketball, men's semifinals (2:30 p.m., 6:00 p.m.)
Aug. 20: Diving, men's 10m semi and final (10:00 a.m., 3:30 p.m.)
Aug. 21: Basketball, men's medal games (10:30 a.m., 2: p.m.), closing ceremony (7:00 p.m.)