AbstractsBusiness Management & Administration

Recent technological development in the field of head mounted displays (HMD) like the Oculus Rift and 360° 3D cameras present new opportunities for virtual reality. VR-Producties.nl (and videoproducties.nl) want to expand their portfolio by producing immersive 360° video content. However, several larger competitors and major broadcasting stations are currently exploring the possibilities of this new form of media. Finally, VR-Producties.nl and me decided that exploring the possibilities in this promising but new market would be a good subject for my graduation thesis: How could VR-Producties.nl become successful in the immersive video market? In the analysis phase, an internal and external analysis was performed. The market and competitors were analysed and a SWOT matrix was created. Based on the information found in this phase, it was concluded that the competition in this new market was very high and that VR-Producties.nl would need to find a new application that could add value or revenues for a client. The main challenge that was defined after the analysis phase was: to leverage from the existing client network, while making use of their network of experienced freelancers, in order to ward of the possible competitors. The application should generate extra revenues or publicity for the involved client. A list of possible application for immersive video was created. Internally, a few ideas of which we believed they were great business opportunities for VR-Producties.nl were selected for further analysis. A survey among 428 people from the United States was conducted to find out which of these selected applications was the most interesting or fun, but also to find out if people were familiar with the Oculus Rift and if they were willing to buy a head mounted display in the future. The application of a virtual guided tour through historical and cultural heritage sites was considered the most interesting and fun. Furthermore it was concluded that the market for head mounted displays (HMD) still had to grow in order to be profitable for content creators like VR-Producties.nl. Instead of selling the content to HMD owners, it was concluded that the developed content should offer a client the ability to expand their customer base. During the project I tried to involve a lot of potential clients. A lot of emails were sent to organizations that are concerned with historical or cultural heritage and publishers. They were all interested in my ideas, but none of them were willing to invest in the production of this immersive content. Finally, the Anne Frank museum was convinced of the added value the content could provide for their organization. They were interested in producing an immersive digital guided tour through the Secret Annex. They can use immersive video to: 1: Offer a guided tour to visitors with a physical impairment (at the museum) 2: Offering a…