The USA Today Network has officially launched “VRtually There“, the first branded news experience presented in virtual reality (VR). This is a weekly immersive program that offers original segments focused on thrills, epic adventures, and visiting dream destinations. Andrew and Mirada’s VR team had the honor of working closely with the USA Today team to help develop the language and visual style for the program’s graphics and ad units, including the creation of “Cubemercials”, an immersive blend between billboard and 360º video advertising. The first few episodes are live now, and you can check them out on YouTube, the USA Today VR Stories page, or via their official apps. New episodes drop every Thursday at 2pm EST on all of these platforms.
You can read more about the plans for the series here, and our good friends at Mettle (makers of the Skybox plugins that power 360º video creation in After Effects and Premiere) did a big write-up here. They interviewed the USA Today production team about their use of Skybox in the weekly production of the show:
USA Today’s production team works with all of the Mettle SkyBox 360/VR plugins for Adobe After Effects and Premiere Pro, including SkyBox Studio for After Effects, SkyBox 360/VR Tools for Premiere Pro, SkyBox Post FX and SkyBox VR Player and SkyBox 360/VR Transitions. We are honoured that our 360/VR plugins are helping to shape the 360/VR medium, and are widely adopted by 360/VR content creators as the production tools of choice.
There is also a lot of press for VRtually There in the Mettle post, some of which I’m duplicating here:
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Marketing Dive: USA Today Network launches weekly VR news show
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MediaPost: USA Today Network Debuts ‘VRtually There’
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Mobile Marketer: USA Today doubles down on VR, risking big on weekly content
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Reuters Online: Toyota to sponsor USA Today’s new virtual reality show
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Upload VR: USA Today’s VR News Show Premieres With 3 High-Flying Adventures
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The Wall Street Journal: Gannett Unveils Virtual Reality Ad Unit With New Weekly VR Show
- Engadget: USA Today announces VR news show ‘VRtually There’