Google Is Not Worried About the Metaverse as They Figure out Their Next Trillion Dollars

After crossing the $2 trillion dollar valuation, Google CEO Sundar Pichai said that the next trillion dollars for Google will not come from any of the current technology trends we’re hearing about, i.e. metavers, crypto, or blockchain. Instead, in an interview with Bloomberg Television as described in this Fortune article, Pichai said the next trillion will come from its original, timeless product - internet search.  Assuming he means that the growth will be in the advertising revenue generated from search, he is probably right.  With companies like Facebook focused on the virtual possibilities of Web 3 and the metaverse, and with other billionaires focused on conquering space, the amount of information that will be generated will still require the most basic functions of search.  The mode may change, i.e. we may get more comfortable with voice search, but the basic function will not be going away any time soon.  

Google’s own approach to immersive computing and other emerging technology trends, has been investing further in AI and the underlying technologies that support “deeper cloud computing.” But let's not forget, Google took its own unsuccessful foray into virtual/augmented reality, for example Google Glasses, and those initiatives were transferred to a division that reports directly to Pichai.  What is unclear is if what they’ve learned from those experiences will influence their growth strategy.  However, it is very clear that they continue to rely heavily on revenues from search. Is it terrible that Google is so heavily reliant on this for their growth? Only time will tell. But it is obvious that the hype around immersive computing can have multiple iterations and may not require every company entering the space to monetize this trend through ugly headgear. 

Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality & Digital Marketing

"Virtual reality" as well as "augmented reality" are well known to us as buzz words of 2017-2018. But does it mean that these technologies are not on the rise anymore? As for me, I would argue that these technologies have not reached their peak yet and are going to become more influential over the next years. Same is argued in Statista forecasts that predict the market to rise by 845% from 2019 to 2022.

We have to think what does it mean to Digital Marketing. 25% of professionals in the field stipulate that virtual reality will be the technology that will drive the most change in the coming two years. But how exactly these technologies can be used? They were already used by Coca-Cola that launched an AR campaign in China in 2018. That time in 2 weeks 6.6 million people viewed the animation. Somehow we are still do not use these technologies enough. I suppose it is due to society being resistant to habit change. I do still remember myself thinking that social networks is something new and useless and was trying to postpone registration as long as possible. But now almost no one can imagine his/her life without Facebook and/or Linkedin, right?

One strong reason to believe that VR & AR are going to be popular is the trend of people be more and more engaged with video and easily consumable content. While AR & VR have the same benefits, they are also even more fun. Moreover, they help customer to interact with the brand more and make purchase decisions easier. Ikea sees an opportunity in this field and helps people see a piece of furniture in their current interior by using VR. You do not have to overuse your imagination anymore.

Additional rational is that users appreciate and even expect to have personalised experience. AR & VR definitely made to provide immersive and controlled experience that can easily be tailored on the basis of preference. 

However, there is at least one challenge for expansion of VR, which is the need to have a particular equipment to be able to be engaged. AR on the other hand, is in a great position, because mobile device is enough to be able to be involved. And we know for a fact that mobile usage is rising.

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What if Virtual Reality was the next standard platform?

We know that Facebook growth mainly comes from mobile now. This shift in platform from the desktop to mobile is very interesting to me. The change happened so fast and it required digital marketers to adapt. What about the next shift? Maybe Virtual Reality. I found this article from TechnologyReview reinforcing this idea and giving it support by implying that Facebook acquired Oculus Rift because Mark Zuckerberg foresees virtual reality to be the next platform, the future standard platform that will replace the others in the long term. In my opinion, this would revolution the way to market products and services.

http://www.technologyreview.com/news/525881/what-zuckerberg-sees-in-oculus-rift/

The Future of Virtual & Augmented Reality

Follow the below link for a fascinating interactive slide presentation highlighting the future of "reality" as we know it. Who are the major players? What do they do? How big can this market become and what could be the largest applications?

All of these questions (and more) are answered below:

http://www.fastcompany.com/3052209/tech-forecast/vr-and-augmented-reality-will-soon-be-worth-150-billion-here-are-the-major-pla#1

Virtual Reality is coming!

In spirit of today's class, I wanted to post this article on how virtual reality could change the world of music in both the way it is delivered as well as consumed. (http://techcrunch.com/2015/12/07/virtuality-reality-and-the-future-of-music/). Some examples from this blog suggest that VR can provide the type of immersive experience that can be game-changing. Imagine experiencing all live-concerts without ever going to the venue!

This is just one industry that could be changed with the onset of VR. However, there are many more where VR could disrupt a lot of things. What hits my mind first is social media. The way we interact with friends and family on social media like FB could completely change with the onset of VR. Instead of just posting photos and messages and liking them, you could actually wear your VR headet and suddenly meet up with them at your favorite restaurant! Guess Mark Zuckerberg realizes that and hence went ahead and acquired Oculus as soon as he could. Another one is education, where VR would go a long way in disrupting long-distance and correspondence education. This is just a tiny subset of what VR can change going forward. It will be interesting to see how adoption of VR ticks up as there is more mass adoption! Maybe teleportation was about about VR!

How do Traditional Media Fight Back: Three Ways Publishers Embrace Digital Channels

The pervading digital media has long eclipsed publishers and TV channels. Nevertheless, several major traditional media companies have been playing catch-up on their digital channels to piggyback on the trend.

Since digital news outlets can no longer assume readers come to them, they need a strong social distribution strategy to reach where readers are. Washington Post has been experimenting with digital newsfeed channels from Facebook’s Notify to Apple News, through which generated greater social traffic. In addition, the Post balances its demand for viral hits with hard news coverage on Facebook and Twitter, allowing it to generate a much greater follower interaction than Times for each post.

Mobile has also been a major part of the story. Washington Post strives to reach new audience through launching its Rainbow suite of apps on various channels including Amazon Kindle. The Rainbow took a radically different approach by deploying a glossy, magazine-like format with only one story displayed on the screen at a time. With its cleaner display format, as well as its enticing visual graphics, this platform has successfully beguiled 5000 new followers in mere three days. Conde Nast also rebuilt its digital backbone to capitalize on the explosion in mobile and native advertising. Its titles like GQ have featured infinite scroll and feed-based navigation to drive more traffic so that more native ads on the site will be visible to the audience

Publishers have also embraced virtual reality to prompt readers’ interaction. New York Times released a VR film earlier this month – The Displaced, which chronicled the tribulations of Syrian refugees. The publishers even delivered more than a million pre-assembled Google Cardboard sets to home delivery subscribers, which helps to make its VR app the “most successful NYT app launch ever”. The Economist is also working on a VR project to make a virtual experience out of its Big Mac Index.

Related Links:

• http://digiday.com/publishers/conde-nast-uk-repositions-capitalize-mobile-native-ad-growth/
•  http://digiday.com/publishers/washington-post-leapfrogged-new-york-times-web-traffic/

Big tech competing for the Virtual Reality market

Not only Google, Facebook and Samsung are in the race to gain the market of VR devices, but many of the big entertainment companies such as Walt Disney are already producing the content that VR Devices’ users will demand.

Google’s Cardboard inexpensive device is definetively targeting the massive consumption, maybe in contraposition to what it was a big failure so far, the extremely expensive Google Glasses.

Walt Disney, has teamed up with Google and Verizon to hand out thousands of free Cardboard viewers featuring characters such as R2-D2. The initiative follows a partnership with the New York Times last month, in which viewers were sent to the newspaper’s subscribers.

Samsung and Facebook, on the other hand, just teamed up to launch a $99 VR gear headset. While Cardboard is designed for simplicity, Gear VR offers more sophisticated hardware and tighter integration with Samsung’s smartphones.

On the content side, Star Wars became the first highest-profile entertainment brand yet to join the Cardboard platform, this week.

In 2015 alone, more than $600m has been invested in 119 deals with most of that going into content companies such as Jaunt, NextVR and 8i.

http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/df7f388c-9974-11e5-95c7-d47aa298f769.html#axzz3tHT0NShw

Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality and wearables open a new landscape for marketing

Ambient interactivity in public places (VR, AR, wearable technologies) is expected to significantly grow over the next five years, creating a new landscape for marketers. 

Some of the more common forms of ambient interactivity include interactive windows and interactive tables, which are being leveraged to deliver informational, marketing, and entertainment applications.

In fact, wearable technology—from Google Glass to Apple's iWatch to the Fitbit—is poised to become a billion-dollar industry worldwide. Analyst firm Juniper Research predicted that wearable spending would hit $1.4 billion in 2013 and will reach a staggering $19.0 billion by 2018. 

And where consumers go, marketers follow. The marketing promise of wearables is tantalizingly apparent. For example, it's no stretch to imagine consumers in a shopping mall targeted with personalized, relevant advertising via their wearable device. And that may happen sooner rather than later. Qualcomm Retail Solutions' platform Gimbal already enables retailers to scan customers' smartphones to deliver timely personalized content. And just last week mobile powerhouse Hipcricket announced that its AD LIFE platform will now support website rendering and text messaging technology across wearable technology, such as Google Glass.

Source: http://www.marketingtechnews.net/news/2015/nov/12/vr-ar-and-wearables-ambient-interactivity-transforming-marketing-experience/

Discovery Ramps Up Virtual Reality to Drive Experiences

Discovery recently launched Discovery VR - a new app and website facilitates users to immerse in storytelling. For example, one of the videos give viewers a virtual look at gold mining operation. (Link: http://www.discoveryvr.com/#/watch/goldrush-pay-dirt/details).

Discovery is poised to make virtual reality a central part of its marketing strategy - already hiring eight people across its video production and content team to lead virtual reality campaigns.

The execution of virtual reality content is difficult - as it requires not only new camera capabilities, it also requires unique storytelling. Publishers are showing growing interest in virtual reality because it "generates empathy" for audiences. New York Times, for example, have already experimented with virtual reality on its web platforms. With Facebook's high profile acquisition of Oculus, virtual reality now has the momentum to become more mainstream, but it remains to be seen whether new publishers adopt virtual reality as the norm, especially after years of false starts.

I believe that the popularization of a hardware device (maybe Google's Cardboard platform) is the next step in making virtual reality the new way to consume, view, and experience content.

To read more: http://digiday.com/publishers/discovery-virtual-reality/