Gannett‘s (NYSE: GCI) USA Today Network recently unveiled its first weekly virtual-reality news show: VRtually There will air on Thursdays at 2 p.m., and can be viewed on a dedicated page on USA Today’s website or via its VR Stories app.
Like its parent website, the series will focus on top news, sports, entertainment, and business stories. The content can be viewed using a wide variety of headsets, including Google Cardboard or Samsung‘s Gear VR.
The future of news and advertising?
Gannett plans to use VRtually There as a vehicle for VR advertising campaigns, with the help of in-house content production company GET Creative. The company calls its VR commercials “cubemercials.” VRtually There’s first sponsor, Toyota, is featured in a 60-second VR ad featuring the new Camry.
This isn’t USA Today’s first step into the VR market — it previously produced VR stories featuring farm life, and a virtual ride with the Blue Angels. It also isn’t a unique idea among aging print publishers. The New York Times, for example, has been sending its subscribers Cardboard headsets, which they can use to explore VR stories within its mobile app. Time also recently made headlines with a VR swimsuit issue of Sports Illustrated.
A glimpse of the future, or a gimmick?
Gannett, The New York Times, and Time are all testing out VR content as part of their digital transitions away from falling print circulation and ad revenues. Gannett’s national digital advertising revenue rose 22.4% annually last quarter (up 18.5% excluding acquisitions), and digital-only subscriptions grew 40%.
Yet Gannett’s total revenue rose just 3% annually — indicating that its digital growth still wasn’t offsetting its print weakness. Expanding into VR could pay off, since interest in the technology is rising among the public. But the fledgling tech could also struggle to live up to the hype and win over mainstream consumers. If that happens, Gannett’s VR show could be quickly forgotten.
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Leo Sun has no position in any stocks mentioned.
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