Hulu may not be producing its own virtual reality slate, but the company is moving farther into providing content for its audience, thanks to a new deal with Jaunt VR, the leader in cinematic and narrative VR formats. Available today, Hulu’s VR app will now include seven new titles from the Jaunt VR library including tentpole projects “Invisible”, which originally aired on Conde Nast Entertainment, and “Home Turf”.
“VR is still a new medium. We’re experimenting with VR. Our focus is to learn what content resonates with viewers and create fully immersive viewing experiences for them,” explained Hulu’s VP of Technology Julian Eggebrecht in a recent interview with VideoInk.
When discussing the long-term potential for Virtual Reality formats as the industry temperature has cooled on the medium, many raise the issue of distribution as a key challenge when breaking through the wall towards mass consumer adoption. So why invest money and time in a format that has yet to reach a majority of households?
According to Eggebrecht, VR “has the potential to transform the entertainment experience – to allow viewers to see and feel the vision of the content creator in an auditory and immersive sense,” and that, he says, “is worth exploring.”
And what better company to explore the new format with than Jaunt? The company has built a business around the end-to-end economy from production, to device, to viewership, and even distribution. Jaunt hopes that by bringing content to Hulu and licensing titles to multiple platforms in windows, it will promote adoption of the medium and support distribution of premium VR storytelling.
The Hulu VR app is currently available for Daydream, PlayStation VR, Oculus Rift, Microsoft and Samsung Gear VR headsets, with additional platforms to come soon. In addition to Hulu’s library of virtual reality content, subscribers can stream the streaming services entire library of 2D content in immersive 3D environments.
Source: The Video Ink