FOX Sports’ Michael Davies: Virtual Reality Has ‘Graduated From Experimental Phase’
Michael Davies, Senior Vice President of Field and Technical Operations, spoke at the 2016 SVG Summitearlier this month about the state of virtual reality, its production quality, improvements toward headsets and where the industry is headed over the next calendar year.
“What I’d submit is that VR is becoming what I would call Second Screen 2.0’ in that it winds up being a much more intriguing companion product than the types of things that we figured out when we were doing the second screen in the traditional way,” said Davies, adding that anyone who claims virtual reality gives viewers the “best seat in the house probably hasn’t seen it.”
He further elaborated on how virtual reality adds another element of storytelling to any live broadcast. Even with the virtual feel, the production still needs to do more to engage viewers, according to Davies. If not, fans will spend a minimal amount of time watching the virtual reality content.
“You also need to give the audience something else to do. VR, in and of itself, isn’t enough yet to compel an audience to really look at it for more than a minute or two,” he said. “Whether you’re doing VR replay, you’re doing some VOD or you’re doing augmented reality graphics in VR, you need to give the audience something more. Interestingly, and to my first point, that also helps us think about some different things about how we can combine VR and the linear experience to make them all swim in the same direction.”
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