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USA TODAY Network to launch VR news series this spring

Marco della Cava
USA TODAY
USA Today Network's VR video of a flight with the Blue Angels got the attention of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, who has long been bullish on the promise of VR and in 2014 spent $2 billion to buy Oculus Rift.

SAN FRANCISCO — As the promise of virtual reality swells, media companies are positioning themselves to take advantage of the immersive technology to connect with readers and advertisers.

USA TODAY Network, whose parent company Gannett oversees flagship media property USA TODAY as well as 92 other outlets nationwide, announced Thursday that this spring it plans to launch a site dedicated to news delivered in VR.

Dubbed VRtually There, the series will spotlight top stories from news, sports, entertainment and business. Access will be through a dedicated page on USA TODAY's website or via its VR Stories app. Segments will feature a variety of formats that include scripted narration, hosted episodes and graphics.

The company also plans to use VRtually There as a vehicle for VR advertising campaigns, leveraging an in-house content production company called GET Creative.

Tech companies and marketers are expected to exploit the captivating power of virtual reality. The ultimate application actually may come from a user-friendly augmented reality headsets capable of overlaying virtual content over a real world environment.

Super Bowl fans get hit of virtual reality future

Amazon recently posted a job on Glassdoor looking for someone to lead its VR program, which is likely to include an effort to amp up the shopping experience. Fox Sports just signed a five-year deal with NextVR to bring fans live sporting events. And one of the sessions at the upcoming South By Southwest Interactive festival, which kicks off in Austin, Texas, Friday, is called "Virtual Reality and the New Sales Experience," featuring executives from The North Face and Lufthansa airlines.

Initially, VRtually There news videos will update weekly. The 360-degree content can be viewed in its most basic form on a desktop, with the immersive nature of the videos improving by using smartphone holders such as Google Cardboard and Samsung's $99 Gear VR.

“USA TODAY Network has been a pioneer in virtual reality storytelling and a leader in the news space with award winning VR content,” Joanne Lipman, Gannett’s new chief content officer said in a statement.

'Harvest of Change' is an award-winning VR tale about life on a farm, one of a growing number of 360-degree journalism features from the Gannett-owned USA TODAY Network, which announced that it is starting a new platform dedicated to such storytelling this spring.

The ultimate iteration of the VR experience for any content provider will come from high-end devices such as Oculus Rift, Sony PlayStation VR and HTC Vive, which are tethered to powerful computers and as a package can cost upwards of $2,000. They are being shipped out to developers this year.

Some of USA TODAY Network's past VR content includes the Des Moines Register's award-winning look at life on a farm and a virtual ride with the U.S. Navy's Blue Angels piece that Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, who paid $2 billion for Oculus Rift in 2014, has written about on his page.

Others feverishly experimenting with VR journalism include The New York Times, the United Nations and, most recently, Time Inc's Sports Illustrated, which last month provided readers of its brisk-selling swimsuit issue with a smartphone holder in order to view its on-set photo shoot videos in VR.

Follow USA TODAY tech reporter Marco della Cava on Twitter: @marcodellacava

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