Pac-12 Networks, continuing to experiment with new platforms, jumped on to the short-form, virtual reality playing field with content surrounding the conference's championship football contest.
Members of Pac-12 Networks' production team, working with a camera and software provided by Google Inc., produced a pair of VR180 pieces of pre- and post-game content in conjunction with the Dec. 1 game matching the University of Southern California and Stanford.
Mark Shuken, president of Pac-12 Networks, said in an interview that participating in the pilot program with Google fulfills two of its goals. "We always want to work with cutting technology, and be on-board with as many forms of multiplatform distribution as possible," he said, noting he believes short-form content will be critical in negotiations when the programmer's rights deals expire with the conference's member schools in 2024.
Pac-12 Networks, comprising a national feed and six other regional networks, each pairing two of the conference member schools geographically, produces 850 live events annually, as well as related programming.
In the case of the initiative with Google and YouTube, members of Pac-12 Networks' production team filmed and produced content providing a close-up of the dance-off between the mascots of the conference’s 12 member schools, including USC's Trojans and Stanford's Tree.
The second VR180 entry tracks the Trojans and the trophy presentation ceremony, which was filmed on the field at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., immediately after their 31-28 victory. "You get a real sense of having on-the-field access, especially when the players bring the trophy toward the fans," said Ryan Currier, vice president, digital business and products at Pac-12 Networks, in an interview.
While Currier said the "immersive, 3D qualities" of the videos are best viewed via the Google Daydream VR headset, the content is also available on the Pac-12 YouTube channel. It has also been featured on YouTube's virtual reality page and the Discover VR180 playlist.
"Google gave us the equipment on the Monday before the game," said Currier. "We started working with the cameras and software and by Friday we were ready to go."
He said the ease of production with the relatively low-cost experimental equipment, which he believes will be made available to consumers sometime next year, was attractive to Pac-12 Networks. "We like the VR180 form factor. It allowed us to experiment with VR, without having to do a full live game stream,” he said, which involves a production facility and five or six cameras stationed around the field.
Currier anticipates Pac-12 Networks will engage with further VR short-form production as "we accelerate our experimentation with the format."
In addition to the recent VR shoot with Google, Pac-12 Networks streamed Pac-12 Plus games on Twitter Inc.'s Twitter Live during the 2016-17 academic year, and expanded that output to also include Facebook Inc.'s Facebook Live and YouTube this go-round.
The programmer has also reached a deal with Amazon.com Inc.'s Amazon Web Services to tap into AWS Elemental Media Services, an integrated suite that enables video providers to create reliable and scalable video offerings in the cloud. Pac-12 Networks said it plans to deploy the AWS Elemental MediaStore service in the coming months to deploy its TV Everywhere platform for all seven of its networks, including live-event streams.
It has also worked with Facebook on delivering shots from around campuses on game day, behind-the-scenes video and post-game press conferences.
Shuken, who joined in September, said he didn’t realize how much focus the Pac-12 Networks, via a dedicated department, places on social and short-form content. The importance of those offerings, he said, has been emphasized during the conversations he has with conference student athletes about their media-consumption habits.
He anticipates that Pac-12 will produce even more fare this way on its own or working with different partners in the years ahead.
To this point, Shuken said there hasn’t been "any attribution" for short-form content when it comes to negotiating rights deal.
Asked if Pac-12 Networks expects to benefit from a revenue stream around such offerings when its deal with member schools conclude, Shuken said that "at the very least short-form will be a very important part of the rights discussions next time around."
