YouTube is ramping up its virtual reality efforts.
The company has announced two new VR features for its Android app – VR video support and the ability to watch any YouTube video via Google’s Cardboard VR headset.
“First, YouTube now supports VR video—a brand new kind of video that makes you feel like you’re actually there. Using the same tricks that we humans use to see the world, VR video gives you a sense of depth as you look around in every direction. Near things look near, far things look far. So if you were excited about 360° videos, this is pretty freakin’ cool,” says YouTube.
“Our second bit of news is for the universe of existing YouTube content. And that’s the fact that you can now watch any video using Google Cardboard, and experience a kind of virtual movie theater. Just select the new “Cardboard” option from the watch page menu, drop your phone into your viewer, and you’re done. You’ll now have the largest VR content library right at your fingertips.”
YouTube recently launched 360-degree videos, and has already started down the ad path with them.