Can not get the investment can not be changed now, lack of content VR how to cook without rice?
"Why don't users buy equipment? Because there isn't enough content to support users to repeat spending."
Hedgehog Commune | Zhe Ming
This performance has been quite good - about 12 minutes of VR (virtual reality) movie "All Detective", on Sohu achieved 130,000 broadcasts. It is also on this platform that many VR movies have failed to broadcast thousands, and some even stay in single digits.
In the 23 VR videos released by the VR content production agency, Weirui Yingye, “Dense Detective†ranked first in popularity, being the first domestic VR video with over a million playbacks on each platform. But what is embarrassing is here:
On Sohu, the high-visibility VR video of Weirui Films, the advertising share was not over a thousand pieces, and there were no advertisements on other platforms.
The production cost of "Full Detective" is about 400,000 yuan.
When a large number of people see VR as the future and sit around this seemingly steaming pan to prepare for a big meal, the pot is facing a lack of meat -
VR concept is very hot, but where is the content?
Difficult to realize
As mobile payment upgrades and user payment habits gradually develop, most people believe that content is increasingly valuable. The same is true in the VR industry. Last year's involvement in VR film and television was invariably speculative.
The people in the industry have a strong vision and hope that the platform is willing to pay for it.
Indeed, most of the platforms in 2016 had the concept of VR. Sohu, Youku and Iqiyi have all developed VR channels.
The surprise to CEO Wei Wei of Wei Rui Film was that one year passed without substantial input on all platforms. As a result, some companies are "dropped."
“In the initial incubation period, someone must post money to do it.†Dong Wei told the IDE ciweigongshe. “Because only money is posted, we can start looking at people. After more content, we can do traffic or users.†Toll."
At present, the online realization of VR movies is nothing more than two methods. One is user payment, and the other is the sharing of advertisements brought by traffic. The user's payment is even less likely to be achieved. The user's VR device penetration rate is not enough, and few users will watch the VR channels of each platform.
Before the C-terminal channel has been established, it is difficult to determine which of these two types of liquidity will be realized. The team needs to feed and the company needs income is a very real problem. The C-side realization can't be done. Another solution is B-side realization.
In 2016, a temporary solution to the realization of VR content is VR+ tourism.
Dong Hao said that for VR film and television, VR + tourism is the easiest to produce. Because VR is particularly noticeable on the record, the form of production is very suitable for tourism and only needs to be recorded.
Taking a well in the traditional way involves the lens language and how to shoot it. But shooting with VR is like going to a well. It only needs to be seen. It does not involve any artistic creation.
This field is no small scale. For Fujian, which has many tourist attractions, the budget for VR videos for one attraction is around 100,000. The budget for Fujian Province is only between 10 million and 14 million. The budget is even greater across the country.
But this is not a long-term business, because no one looks at these videos. The funding for the second round of production cannot be applied for.
"Blindly do it without thinking about how to open it up, without equipment, without distribution channels, it can only be done for people to work for you, not even if." Dong Xuan said.
Content creators of VR are gradually limited to passive. There is simply no opportunity to explore which VR video titles are more attractive, how long viewers are more receptive, how long users can enter films, etc., which are pivotal issues in the future of VR content monetization.
Because the creators don't have financial support.
Some people claim that 2016 is the first year of VR, and 2017 is the first year of VR content. However, Dong Hao said that the content of VR this year was not as good as the entire industry last year.
Social problems
Whether it is a VR game or a VR movie, there is almost no user stickiness. This is an essential pain point in the realization of VR content - it does not solve social issues.
Lin Bian once went to the offline VR experience hall with friends, played VR games, watched VR movies, and felt very fresh. However, in her friend's private session, she only played 3 or 4 times, and she did not have a strong second-time willingness to spend.
"At present, VR content is basically based on experience, so it is not necessary to experience it for the second time after experiencing the first time. This is the problem with VR content." Dong Xu said.
Nowadays, people choose to go to the movie theater scene because of their strong social attributes. Almost between couples or with friends.
There are alternative solutions, such as watching the same video on a mobile phone, with social attributes as well. Because these spreadable content on movies or mobile phones themselves provide a social media.
But now VR movies need to be seen with glasses, and there is no way for users to communicate. Moreover, the viewing motivation is based on the sense of experience, so the content itself is less transmitted.
Dong Hao believes that "this content will not be transmitted and it will die. The requirements of the mass media can be stated."
The same is true of VR games. Even if a few games support multiplayer connections, its content is relatively simple and fragmented. The user's time and application scenario also do not allow users to repeatedly spend, nor did they spread widely. And mobile phones can consume content for a long time. Therefore, VR games are currently only staying in the experience.
In the VR experience hall where Lin Pei goes, there is a screen that can project the content broadcast in his VR glasses. This large screen is also standard for the offline experience hall. It can solve a certain degree of spread and social networking, because people in this space can share experience with VR content scenes. However, people who are only limited to this space see that it is impossible to carry out more extensive dissemination.
Although the current VR industry is still in its infancy, there is no way to realize it online, and the platform is not willing to post money to speculate on this market. Therefore, it is necessary to re-explore the viable business model of VR content.
Only based on the entire line is not feasible, do content also began to consider offline application scenarios.
“The popularity of VR must be from social to civilian. Similar to movies, movies are initially social, and users pay for them at the cinema. When the content starts to increase, new distribution channels are established and the transition to civil use is gradual. "Dong Yu said.
Weirui Cinema currently adopts a new model that hopes to solve the social pain point: At the same time, let two users experience VR content together. The same content can be seen between two users and they can communicate with each other. And these exchanges support real-time recording, dissemination and sharing.
Dong Hao hopes to attract more users to experience this, and more experiences bring more sharing, thus snowballing makes VR content a true social carrier.
Although Lin Biao saw friends play VR boxing games, he did not dare to experience it. “I think although I can see the scene inside the VR glasses from the screen, I still worry that I feel completely different and feel my own movements when I punch. Will it be silly."
“The experience is fearful, but when I see two real people standing in one world, I may want to experience and share it again.†Dong Xuan said.
Channel Breakout
Like most people who do content, Dong Hao believes that content is the core thing. Without content, hardware cannot be consumed. However, domestic investment enthusiasm for content does not seem high.
The “2016 China Virtual Reality (VR) Industry Research Report†released by iResearch Shanghai Inter-entertainment Department in March 2016 shows that the investment in VR industry chain has a total of 67 investment projects, with 11 production sites accounting for 16.4% of the total. (Input/Output) is 37, accounting for 55.2%. In contrast, there is still a big gap between the two.
The content is so important. Why does capital not subsidize content and equipment at the same time to promote the development of the entire industry?
Because the risk of investing in content is too great.
“The content is too dependent on people. If people have problems or problems with the production of the content itself, the risk will be great. The investor is not concerned about how much this thing can be done, but whether he can withdraw in the next round.†.
If the terminal has no access, then you can only choose to vote. However, there are still opportunities for VR investment. Hardware and platforms have not yet come out. Giants such as HTC and Facebook are not completely monopolizing the market. There is still room for hardware volume and development, as long as we can continue to iterate, we can find the number of people to create disk access.
Therefore, investors naturally prefer casting hardware.
Difficult to get investment, content and difficult to realize, this is the current VR content dilemma. Without the support of capital, it is difficult to produce good VR content. Without content support, it is difficult to establish channels for reaching users.
"Why don't users buy equipment? Because there is not enough content to support users to repeat consumption." Dong Xuan said.
This is a chicken-egg, egg-chicken problem. Devices need content support to boost sales, and content requires equipment to build channels with a large enough user base.
"For example, if you use billboards, you must first post good advertising cards, so that advertising content can be supplied. However, advertising billboards must also be sure that there is advertising." Dong Xuan said, "Now VR has fully spread out the equipment. It's useless."
For the entire VR industry, it is hoped that the channel will be established. Whether online or offline, we hope to push VR to C-side.
Dong Hao believes that the need for mature hardware and high cost performance for the C-side needs to be consumed by ordinary people.
It is clear that these conditions are currently not met in the VR industry. Due to competition from industry giants such as Facebook and HTC, the initial production standards are not uniform.
Although the price of VR products has recently declined, for most people, the price/performance ratio is not high. For example, some time ago, Facebook announced that it will cut the price of Oculus rift by 100 US dollars, the official website Oculus Rift VR headphone price is 499 US dollars.
The overheated upstream and the cold downstream are the major problems faced by the industry. Only if the capital is properly tilted towards the content and the platform side is willing to subsidize the content to create user demand, can the channel be truly established and VR may be pushed to the C-term.
The industry imagination of VR content is not small. Wu Xiaoming, one of the authors of VR Times, once told the Hedgehog Commune: "When the hardware is mature, the VR industry is content-led."
According to research reports of Transparency Market Research, a US market research consultancy, in 2024, the total output value of the VR content market is expected to be as high as 41 billion US dollars, a compound annual growth rate of 89.8%.
BAT, which is not planning to enter the VR industry in 2015, has now actively found Dong Hao. "The content can be diversified and the hardware iteration speed can keep up. I believe the overall VR industry will have a leaping development." He is still optimistic.
Shenzhen Yidashun Technology Co., Ltd. , https://www.ydsadapter.com