INSIGHT
“Imagine getting the latest live match odds sent
directly to your screen, tailored to your betting
habits based on your previous experiences. It
brings the term betting-in-play to the next level.”
for a casino - external distractions are
reduced to a minimum.
So what makes Oculus Rift stand
out? Well put simply, it’s the presence of
Facebook, bringing with it a double-edged
sword of huge power and influence in the
market, but also major scrutiny over data
capture and usage. Mark Zuckerberg says
Oculus’ growth focus over the next 4-5 years
is purely on offering a virtual world inside
and outside of gaming, while Facebook
wants to become a portal for an increasing
range of experiences, from watching
sporting events, talking to friends and family,
taking part in a virtual study session, having
a consultation with a GP, or sitting at a
poker table with the greatest players in the
world… the potential is endless.
With that potential comes a huge
amount of data, and who better than
Facebook to mine data from us? Imagine
the possibilities for brands to market their
products through VR; they could feasibly
target these using information gathered on
household income, spending habits, health,
affiliations and interests, not to mention
your deepest and darkest desires that the
world of virtual reality will give rise to.
It’s in sport where VR will arguably start
to get interesting, with football in particular.
Globally football has never been bigger and
more advanced off the field. The amount
of money within the English game from
television rights and selling the Premier
League abroad means that untapped
markets such as Africa and Asia can afford
to sell their ‘product’ to more people than
ever before. Imagine sitting in your living
room with the ability to virtually transport
yourself to Old Trafford or Anfield for a
Liverpool vs Manchester United game, or
the Camp Nou or Santiago Bernabeu for
‘El Classico’. You’ll be able to experience
everything as if you were actually sitting
in the stadium, with the only cost being
signing up for a Facebook – or in this case –
an Oculus account.
What’s more, imagine getting the latest
live match odds sent directly to your screen,
tailored to your betting habits based on
your previous experiences. It brings the
term betting-in-play to the next level. Plus,
there is the opportunity for each team
in question to push their own brand or
sponsors’ products, which can be purchased
at the push of a button or voice command,
without having to enter credit card or
address details. Alternatively, a local pizza
delivery company may send a message 10
minutes before half time, giving you the
ability to choose your pizza toppings whilst
you keep an eye on the game.
The greatest potential benefit for brands
that will use VR advertising is that it will
be extremely targeted, and likely highly
affordable too. If and when (most likely,
when) Facebook decides to open up Oculus
to companies, it’s still unclear how that
particular model would work. However,
advancement on the cost-per-engagement
structure would make sense, considering the
nature of the product; no doubt ad-relevancy
would take prominence over a simple CPC
or CPM model. What is clear is that VR
technology is seriously making its way
into the mainstream in 2015, and it could
potentially be the biggest advancement in
our way of life since the iPhone.
Although we’re not entirely close to
where Robert Zemeckis envisaged 2015
to be in Back To The Future, we are getting
there. Arx Pax also used Kickstarter to
fund the ‘Hendo Hoverboard’ invention,
a sublime piec