Here’s How Facebook Is Strengthening Its Virtual Reality Offering
Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) recently announced that it is acquiring Two Big Ears, an Edinburgh based company which specializes in spatial 3D audio in cinematic and gaming experiences. Along with this acquisition, Facebook also announced the launch of Facebook 360 Spatial Workstation, where the authoring tools, encoder and rendering engine for cinematic VR (virtual reality) and 360 video developed by Two Big Ears will be available for free download to developers. The technology of Two Big Ears primarily focuses on how sound plays in 3D spaces and how it interacts with surfaces that surround the users. Facebook’s latest acquisition is an indication that the company has a serious focus on its virtual reality offering. By providing the audio technology free to developers, the company is encouraging content developers to work on VR projects. Facebook recently created a social VR team to explore the future of social interaction on VR. We believe this focus on VR content will also positively impact sales of the company’s VR hardware—the Oculus VR headset—and provide the company with a head start on an innovative digital experience in future.
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Making Virtual Reality Content More Main Stream
In acquiring Two Big Ears and making the 3D audio technology freely available, Facebook will attract content creators who can use these technologies to make their VR experiences better. This will also contribute towards making Facebook a default hub for immersive VR video content. While VR is currently being used primarily for gaming, Facebook plans to introduce immersive social experiences. Companies such as eBay are already experimenting with virtual reality stores and VR has the potential to become a more mainstream digital experience in the future. Facebook is investing in this potentially high growth technology. Immersive 3D audio is hugely important to both the high end virtual reality content that is available on Rift and the basic VR experiences that are available on Facebook. Audio is an effective way to attract viewers into an immersive VR experience and the acquisition of Two Big Ears provides Facebook with the technology to enhance this experience.
With more VR content available, Facebook is also looking to attract advertisers in this space. Virtual reality (VR) is seen to offer the most compelling and effective digital advertising because it is immersive and experiential. Brands such as Coca Cola, HBO and Nissan have ventured into virtual worlds. As this technology becomes more affordable and easily available, an increasing number of advertisers are likely to invest in virtual reality ads.
We believe Facebook is focused on making VR technology more easily accessible so as to draw content creators to its platform. As more and more content becomes available on this platform, it will provide a boost to the sales of its VR headset, even as it attracts VR advertisers to its platform. The acquisition of Two Big Ears will strengthen Facebook’s VR offering and attract content developers to its platform as well.
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