UPDATED 14:57 EDT / JUNE 14 2017

EMERGING TECH

Getty Images joins with Jaunt to expand virtual reality video offerings

Famous for its stock photos and video, Getty Images Inc. is now doubling down on virtual reality with a new deal.

Getty today announced an extensive distribution partnership for VR and 360-degree video with Jaunt Inc., a leader in high quality cinematic virtual reality. This new partnership will bring cinema-quality VR video to Getty’s stable of media and open up high-quality 360-degree content to audiences worldwide.

Getty launched its VR content department a year ago and now supports more than 25,000 360-degree images. With this partnership, Getty customers will now also be able to access Jaunt’s VR content as well.

Jaunt boasts the largest library of high-quality cinematic VR content in the industry. Launched in 2013, Jaunt travels the globe producing VR content that ranges from stock video, cinema experiences, travelogues and documentaries. Such experiences include VR cinema from Fifty Shades Darker: The Masquerade Ball, Star Wars Rogue One and Mr. Robot Virtual Reality Experience, alongside documentary work that takes viewers to the arctic circle with Greenpeace’s A Journey to the Arctic (pictured) and puts them on the deck of an aircraft carrier with Bild: Flight Operations.

Anthony Holland Parkin, Getty Images’ head of VR, said he believes that virtual reality “is revolutionizing the way we experience the world around us” and that the partnership will provide Getty’s customers “a level of VR content not yet seen in this space.”

Getty’s VR team already covers world events with 360-degree content with its own industry-leading team of photographers and videographers such as the Oscars, Olympics and 2016 presidential election cycle. The company says that 360-degree video of these events proved to be spectacularly popular and drove millions of views with an average dwell time of over two minutes.

“In 2017 skepticism around VR has finally taken a backseat,” Parkin said. “What has become clear to brands and the public alike, is that VR is here to stay. Undoubtedly, it has the potential to transform the way the public consumes and engages with brands.”

Getty and Jaunt’s partnership continues a trend of journalism and media testing the waters of VR content. In March, broadcast journalism outlet CNN announced its venture into immersive journalism with CNNVR, which itself has begun to produce 360-degree content from world events and reporting. The New York Times launched its own VR department in November, and ABC News Network opened up a VR department in September.

This deal with Jaunt follows Getty’s recent partnership with Google, which has Getty supplying hi-res VR content from current events around the world with the aid of Google Expeditions. The company also boasts relationships with other leaders in the VR industry including Oculus Rift, Experience 360, 360Cities.net, AirPano, Laduma and Yellowbird.

Image: Jaunt

A message from John Furrier, co-founder of SiliconANGLE:

Your vote of support is important to us and it helps us keep the content FREE.

One click below supports our mission to provide free, deep, and relevant content.  

Join our community on YouTube

Join the community that includes more than 15,000 #CubeAlumni experts, including Amazon.com CEO Andy Jassy, Dell Technologies founder and CEO Michael Dell, Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger, and many more luminaries and experts.

“TheCUBE is an important partner to the industry. You guys really are a part of our events and we really appreciate you coming and I know people appreciate the content you create as well” – Andy Jassy

THANK YOU