-->
Save your FREE seat for Streaming Media Connect this August. Register Now!

YouTube Will Launch Dedicated VR Video App Later This Year

Article Featured Image

YouTube announced that it will releases a VR-centric YouTube app later this year. While virtual reality and 360-degree videos are already available through the site's mobile apps. they can be a challenge to find. The new app will be all about bringing viewers into immersive virtual experiences. The app will work with Daydream, the virtual reality platform parent company Google announced at this week's Google I/O developers conference.

Brands want a part of the VR buzz, too, so YouTube will collaborate with the NBA, BuzzFeed, and Tastemade on videos, exploring "new ways of storytelling in virtual environments that will provide valuable lessons about the way creators and viewers interact with VR video," said Kurt Wilms, senior product manager for YouTube Virtual Reality, in a blog post.

The app will offer a standard YouTube interface, with voice search, discovery options, and playlists. The app will also stream all of YouTube's content in 3D.

To help creators make VR video, YouTube is working with camera vendors to create cameras that work with Google's Jump platform. Jump includes a 16-camera rig for 360-degree shooting and the Jump assembler to combine those recordings. YouTube brought Jump recording to its Los Angeles studio starting yesterday, and will soon roll it out to YouTube Space locations around the world.

Streaming Covers
Free
for qualified subscribers
Subscribe Now Current Issue Past Issues
Related Articles

YouTube: 97% of Traffic Now Served Via HTTPS Connections

Online video viewers now enjoy greater security during their YouTube sessions, in a move that also eliminated many types of errors.

YouTube Announces Comment Changes, Tools for Creators: VidCon

The YouTube mobile app gains live video streaming, the company announced during its VidCon 2016 keynote, but it's currently limited to select creators.

Streaming Media East Teaches Enterprise Webcasting and VR: Video

For one PayPal executive, the recent Streaming Media East conference was a place to find answers about enterprise webcasting, and to learn about the present and future of virtual reality.

VR Producers Should Avoid Over-Hyping Their Products: Video

It's still early days for VR, and creating heighted expectations will only lead to disappointment, says one VR executive. Still, the area is advancing every month.

VR Is a Marathon Not a Sprint, Road to Adoption Will Take Years: Video

In this Streaming Media East interview, Joel Espelien of The Diffusion Group explains why most people are getting virtual reality's future wrong.

SME 2016: VR Video Is Cumbersome, But Still in its Infancy

The cameras have poor controls, the headsets are bulky, and the results sometimes make people sick. Still, don't write off virtual reality just yet.

Stop the Skepticism: VR Video Makes a Believer Out of Anyone

Viewers don't need to strap a heavy piece of equipment to their heads to get immersed in virtual reality video. Even everyday scenes take on a new richness.

YouTube, NYT, Associated Press, and WSJ Create VR Experiences

Viewers will have a lot more virtual reality to choose from, thanks to several high-profile releases. NY Times subscribers are getting free Google Cardboard.