Metaverse and broadcast: Two worlds forced to understand each other?

The metaverse, driven by the evolution of Facebook to Meta, is on everyone's lips. But is there really a big opportunity for the entertainment industry behind this concept? Edgar Martín-Blas Méndez, CEO and creative director of Virtual Voyagers, finds common places between the virtual world and the broadcast market.

To understand the maelstrom that the metaverso, first you have to understand what it is. Although, the reality is that, beyond concept tests and limited approaches, there is still no tangible approach that allows us to define it perfectly.

The metaverse, on the role and desires of the great technological giants, implies the creation of virtual worlds on a human scale in which users can interact naturally and even do “physical” activities, such as attending a concert, playing tennis, or flying on an airplane. By connecting to the metaverse, people will be able interact with avatars who will benefit from the latest technologies associated with virtual reality glasses and control devices.

Those interested will not have to travel to the California desert to enjoy the music festival of Coachella, since they will be able to buy their ticket to enjoy exclusive concerts with their friends. Nor will it be necessary to stay in a dinner hall or at home to watch a movie: why not take advantage of a Netflix subscription to watch and comment on a movie in real time? In fact, you won't even need to take a plane ticket to see the crossing. Shibuya. Why not be part of the virtual recreation?

These universes bring with them several questions. There will be a hegemonic metaverse? Which are the competitors in this battle? How can you capture the interactive elements to improve human interactions? What role can broadcast have in the metaverse?

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Beginner's Guide to the Metaverse

Martin-Blas defines the metaverse, above all, as a evolution. It is a step beyond the internet that we know: “We come from a flat web environment, based on 2D screens and interaction with clicks.” In this new phase, users will be able to interact, participate and feel immersed in a virtual world.

The reader closest to the digital world will be able to find similarities to this concept in Second Life, the virtual universe born in 2003 and which as of 2018 continued to gather half a million recurring users each month; either Roblox, a multiplayer game that allows you to create interactive worlds supported by video games that has 190 million players around the world. The big difference with the metaverse is that, although previous proposals focused on generating a virtual parallel world, the metaverse seeks the conjunction of the virtual and real world with the added bonus of benefiting from hardware that provides immersion.

This environment may be presented in a centralized or decentralized manner. This key is the protagonist of much of the dispute for the hegemony of this interactive proposal. The user may be part of a metaverse structured in nodes, so that you can “jump” between worlds with freedom of movement (something that represents the web 3.0 utopia), or a supplier may centralize access to content offering a kind of marketplace or point of origin for all experiences. In this way, Meta, Google or Microsoft could offer a service with features that capture the attention of users. consumers and fulfill their expectations, bringing together companies, artists or even public initiatives. Of course, this entire environment can be completely monetizable, either with currencies in global circulation or with cryptocurrencies.

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Meta, Google and Microsoft, in the Metaverse

The race for innovation has characterized large technology companies. To a greater or lesser extent, they have disputed their hegemony in markets such as Mobile technology, the IPTV, los virtual assistants o to digital conversation. He metaverso could be the next great playing field, as the tangible is lost to generate virtual opportunities.

Matthew Kanterman y Nathan Naidu, analysts specialized in technology of the economic and business newspaper Bloomberg, point out that, within just six years, the metaverse will represent a market of 800 billion dollars thanks not only to the possible social and business applications of Meta, Google y Microsoft, but because of the developments of video game companies such as Roblox, Activision Blizzard o Take-Two. In fact, today, several companies are developing games as a service located in virtual worlds in constant expansion and updating that seek links with reality. Between them, Epic Games. The developers of the famous and increasingly widespread Unreal Engine in virtual productions they have already offered through Fortnite, his most successful video game, exclusive concerts by music stars such as Travis Scott, Marshmello o Ariana Grande.

Apart from the competition for hegemony of the metaverse, the commitment to a hardware accesible that makes Zuckerberg's company's estimate come true: that, before 2032, he metaverse is such a widespread reality How could the arrival of Facebook to smartphones around the world.

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Human interactions through technology

Meta already has some virtual reality glasses that allow the consumer to get closer to the concept of metaverso: Meta (formerly Oculus) Quest 2. These glasses, for now, offer motion recognition, gesture controls y 360 viewing. However, its next generation, known as Project Cambria, will take another step in immersiveness, with features such as ability to capture and reproduce facial expressions through an avatar, reconstruct objects present in the user's environment in real time with mixed reality features, a more ergonomic and compact design, o trackeos of more movements complete.

As it could not be otherwise, their competitors work on the same line. Apple plans to present its first headset between 2022 y 2023. More oriented to facilitate social interactions that to the metaverse, different media point to features such as inclusion of cameras to directly capture the facial and gestural expressions of users, spatial detection, immersive audio, mixed reality features with augmented reality features, and specific gaming applications, streaming video and video conferencing.

Parallel, Microsoft already has its products on the market HoloLens (for now aimed at industrial areas, but which could eventually make the leap to the consumer market); Sony I bet you PS VR2, although it limits its scope to Playstation 5; y Google keep working on Project Iris: with a launch date scheduled for 2024, this solution would be the definitive evolution of the failed ones Google Glass.

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Does the metaverse have a place in broadcast?

He metaverso, configurable as an extension not only of the real world but of all the entertainment and social encounters it has in it, can offer opportunities to different companies within the broadcast industry. Whether from the point of view merely technician or from that of the content creation, the promise of a new window with unpublished content is leading content companies to specialize in generating content in VR with social capabilities.

Martin-Blas considers that broadcast is a key point for the metaverse due to several variables. On the one hand, the CEO and creative director of Virtual Voyagers emphasizes the importance of streaming 360º, 180º or 2D which is broadcast already in the first approaches to the metaverse. Secondly, bet on the hybrid platforms: 3D environments that occur in real time and whose elements can be “from objects to videos or live music.”

Like it shows, Horizon Venues, a Meta initiative that already hosts exclusive concerts (with the capacity for social interactions) by top-level bands, such as Foo Fighters. Virtual Voyagers itself collaborated closely with Meta, along with Supersphere L.A., to create a real-time concert editor.

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New narratives or improved formats

He straight, as a rallyer of attention and crowds, is a great weapon for the metaverso just like for the world broadcast. The exclusivity of a content and the social encounter that it can entail (just as a gathering in a home to enjoy Eurovision every year can be) can provide opportunities for creative industries in a complementary way to television offer o VOD.

However, keep in mind that narrative may work differently in the metaverse. Martín-Blas compares the development of content in the metaverse as “a largely thematic” in which “you can freely walk or interact.” “The story unfolds as you progress and you can even interact with the people you meet along the way,” she says.

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A sports broadcast in the metaverse

These axioms of the metaverse allow us to imagine what it might be like to attend a broadcast of a basketball game in the metaverse. The user, through an avatar, could be part of a virtual stand, in which to react with friends and strangers while watching the match. At the time of the commercial break, could have the usual advertising thread of sports broadcasts, but also commercial content generated specifically for the virtual court.

In the moments before or after the game, or during intermissions, the user could “get up” from his seat and go to one of the interactive booths located on the outskirts of the stadium. From there, you could view exclusive locker room cameras, buy the kit of your favorite team (for both your virtual avatars and the real world) or order food at home in a virtual stand of some fast food supplier. Everything, as it could not be otherwise, would have its costs and benefits for him rightholder, the broadcaster and the consumer themselves. And, at every moment, the barriers between real and virtual they would blur.

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First steps of broadcasters in the metaverse

Currently, we are witnessing a phase of protometaversos. Martín-Blas defines them as “very limited proofs of concept or Metaverses.” These first steps, accelerated as a result of the pandemic, have given rise to live sports broadcasts or events with their respective production processes. broadcast, production and editing. However, “there is still a lot to improve.”

In any case, Martín-Blas is optimistic about the development of the metaverse: “In 2022 we will see this world advance since the investment is enormous. Everyone is involved, especially in the United States. The race is on: talent is being stripped from the market, companies are being bought and talent is being captured from the competition. We are witnessing the creation of an entire industry. It will take time, but the result will be that there will be new leaders and they will not be the same ones that now dominate broadcast, television and radio.”

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Creating metaverses from television

From the perspective of production, the CEO of Digital Voyagers identifies Unity y Unreal like two engines “perfect for shaping the new tools of the metaverse.” However, initially, the broadcaster will not benefit necessarily of your experience working in augmented reality or extended reality virtual environments: “Virtual production is based on hardware that supports millions of polygons and enormous textures. In the metaverse, we're talking about real time"Everything is reproduced on a headset that has a low-cost mobile chip, which is why the developments are closer to the world of video games than to virtual production."

Given this context, Martín-Blas considers that the key will be to learn to optimize three-dimensional or live broadcast environments based on the hardware on the market. In this way, the broadcast world will be able to play its cards in the approach of the real world and the virtual world that the metaverse represents: “Right now, [creating content for] Meta Quest 2 and PICO would be the most competitive quality/price line and massive. However, soon PlayStation will launch its new VR headset and Apple its mixed reality device.”

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The consumer: the definitive piece

The metaverse, on paper, could not be more promising. It provides certain possibilities to the third sector to multiply its offer and services in a expanding environment. Entertainment will continue to advance in its progressive globalization, las social interactions (with the respective avatarization of society) you will find new skins to develop around and companies will have a immersive channel in which to accompany both presume like prosumer in its buyer journey.

Once the development of technologies, the generation of content and the distribution of hegemonic roles in the technology industry is completed, the metaverse will depend on the user again. Martín-Blas considers that “it is only a matter of time” before the deployment is massive: “I estimate that, in less than five years, we will reach 100 million users of the immersive metaverse, without the need for flat screens.”

Thes technological promises and industrial expectations are made. Now, the success of the metaverse only depends on the support you receive from the real world and the people who inhabit it.

A report by Sergio Julián Gómez

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