YouTube Will Launch Dedicated VR Video App Later This Year
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.
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