US-based ★ NY Times collaborates with VR app "Google Cardboard"

The New York Times (NYT) released its virtual reality (VR)-compatible video streaming app, "NYT VR," in early November.

According to Ad Age, the newspaper delivered Google Cardboard VR goggles to over one million households subscribing to the print edition of the NYT, and separately emailed codes enabling access to VR content. Within four days of its release, it achieved the highest number of downloads for any NYT app. Users are reportedly spending an unusually high average of 15 minutes watching videos.

The first original video for "NYT VR" is an 11-minute film titled "The Displaced," depicting three children living amid war and refugee crises. It was produced by Vrse, a VR content production company led by director Chris Milk. Dean Baquet, the paper's executive editor, stated, "We were able to deliver serious, powerful stories unique to our paper through cutting-edge VR content." Jake Silverstein, editor of The New York Times Magazine, also praised it, saying, "The power of VR technology allows us to evoke even greater empathy from our readers."

The sponsors of "NYT VR" are Mini, a subsidiary of Germany's BMW, and General Electric (GE). Both companies provided videos for "NYT VR".

Mini provided two six-minute dramatic videos. The first, "Backwater," depicts a jewel thief fleeing in a Mini. It makes full use of 360-degree panoramic VR footage, including scenes looking up at the pier from a small boat and a brawl where diamonds spill everywhere. The second video, "Real Memories," tells the story of a man with amnesia trying to regain his memory in a room of a luxury apartment building turned ruin. Both videos are compatible with the streaming service "Spotify" and MINI's in-car system "MINI Connected." These videos were released on "NYT VR," MINI's website, and the video-sharing platform YouTube.

GE provided a roughly two-and-a-half-minute VR video titled "Nature of Industry," based on an article published in the NYT's science section. It explores the relationship between nature and industrial development. The video was produced by the NYT's in-house content marketing division, T Brand Studio, with the cooperation of the Hollywood VR production company FrameStore.

The weekend Google Cardboard headsets arrived for NYT readers saw Instagram flooded with posts tagged #NYTVR. Meredith Kopit Levien, the NYT's chief revenue officer, humorously celebrated the success of the first "NYT VR" release, noting, "It's a great irony that our 164-year-old print distribution network proved effective for delivering the latest VR viewing device (Google Cardboard) to a million readers."

NYT VR app (courtesy of the New York Times)

Source: Ad Age
The New York Times Introduces Virtual Reality Project With Google Cardboard