A new Reuters Institute report VR for News: The New Reality? by Zillah Watson examines ongoing developments in VR, the major challenges and what the future of VR might look like for news organisations. The author interviewed more than 20 VR experts from news media in the USA and Europe in February/March 2017.

As VR continues to develop news organisations must address the following key areas:

Strategy and investment: Big organisations should make investments now: early mover advantage is likely to be as critical as it has been for the Web or apps. Smaller organisations could focus on low-cost 360 investments or partnerships on bigger projects.

Content: Content is what news organisations can do most to change. The focus should remain on making great experiences suited to the technology.

Hardware: Platforms and device manufacturers need to focus on improving hardware and common platforms to provide a frictionless user experience, and lower costs for headsets and bandwidth.

Audiences and monetisation: Building an audience is essential for the long-term monetisation of VR content in news and beyond.  Audience adoption requires consumer literacy in how to engage with the new technology.

Find the report here.

Picture: Google Cardboard by othree, licence: CC BY 2.0