Daytona 500 in virtual reality, coming from Fox Sports

Fox Sports is betting that virtual reality may provide a boost to long-sagging TV ratings. This Sunday for the Dayton 500 the network is teaming up with NextVR to deliver a virtual reality telecast via streaming.

Want to try out an immersive racing experience?

“With its patented technology, NextVR is the only company capable of transmitting live high definition, three-dimensional virtual reality content over the Internet delivering a completely immersive and life-like experience for the viewer,” NextVR says..

Warning: You’ll need a Samsung VR headset.

NextVR is not new to sports, having put on a VR telecast of the Golden State Warriors’ season opener last October. There have been some other VR events, too, including politics. The California-based company also has deep pockets, with Comcast and Time Warner among its investors.

By the way, tne NBA sees great value in VR technology.

“The vast majority of our fans will never step in an arena,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver told re/code last fall. “The holy grail is replicating the experience through virtual reality.”

On Sunday, the next frontier is NASCAR – a sport that has seen lagging attention since the 2008 recession. How bad is it? According to TV by the Numbers, last weekend’s kickoff race – the Sprint Unlimited – drew a 1.0 rating among the most-wanted viewer demographic: 18-49 year olds.

Ratings for that event have plunged by nearly half since 2008. And overall viewership has declined for the season, reported The Sports Xchange earlier this month.

So after tweaking race formats, how many teams can compete each week, and tinkering with its overtime finishes, Fox is turning to VR as a possible remedy. Other sports are part of the deal, too, which covers five years. Financial terms weren’t disclosed. Fox worked with NextVR, for example, to broadcast a recent round of Premier Boxing Champions.

Unfortunately, there aren’t millions of VR-enabled fans yet. The technology is still emerging, and the major takeoff in sales may not occur until Facebook-owned Oculus rolls out headsets (as well as PC -headset packages) in coming months.

“We have worked with FOX Sports for over a year to test live, virtual reality programming across several sports,” said Brad Allen, executive chairman of NextVR in announcing the deal. “This wide-ranging agreement is proof that our technology provides an exciting and compelling option to witness great sporting events in virtual reality.”

The idea of VR is to make fans feel as if they are part of the crowd watching live.

And as with standard TV broadcasts, NextVR will include commentary as well as in-race graphics.

“It’s all about delivering something new and exciting for our viewers,” said Eric Shanks, FOX Sports president. “Virtual reality is the next great frontier in immersive experiences for fans across a wide variety of sports. It’s a rapidly changing technology, and this deal with NextVR positions us to be on the front lines for years to come.”

About NextVR:

“NextVR has developed a custom lens-to-lens system for capturing and delivering live and on-demand virtual reality experiences in true broadcast quality.”

The company holds 23 patents.

More details:

http://www.nextvr.com

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