How Li Huaiyu built Whale into the Alibaba of VR

“Weijing wants to be the Alibaba of VR.”

At a media summit, Li Huaiyu, CEO of Whaley Technology, made such a bold statement. Although he himself was confident about it, some people still regarded it as a joke.

After all, too many speculators have been parasitized by the VR wave, and only the big names will remain after the bubble dissipates. Just like in the United States, Google and Facebook, which monopolize the VR industry, are not only technical parties but also content playback platforms. In China, the direction of VR entrepreneurship is relatively scattered. Once a company with overlapping technology and content platforms appears, it is not difficult to recreate an Alibaba empire.

Li Huaiyu is not a radical in the technology community. Since he dares to make such a bold statement, it shows that Weijing has already made a deep layout in the VR field. He believes that the two light and dark lines behind it have begun to emerge.

Bright line: Expanding content territory shows that latecomers are ahead

At present, most domestic companies involved in VR projects are start-up companies that are good at single-point breakthroughs, and have not yet established a good connection between equipment and content. In particular, companies that have entered the VR industry are fighting on their own, and the contradiction between the constantly iterating equipment hardware and the lack of content is becoming increasingly prominent. The "China VR User Behavior Research Report" shows that more than 80% of VR users use VR video experiences. In this case, whoever first firmly grasps the VR video content and detonates the consumer market will be able to take the lead in gaining the right to speak in the industry.

On April 25, Whaley VR strategically announced that it will lay out the entire VR value chain from technology innovation, equipment research and development, to content creative production, and establish a 1 billion yuan innovation industry fund. It plans to build a geek innovation team of 1,000 people in the next three years, and work with partners to produce 10,000 hours of VR quality content, covering games, variety shows, live broadcasts, panoramic short films, documentaries and micro-movies.

While everyone is curious about how Weijing will spend the 1 billion yuan, let’s take a look at what happens next?

On April 25, Whale announced its partnership with Jaunt and NextVR to officially enter the VR film and television live broadcasting field;

On May 9, Whaley announced that it would join hands with Manchester City to seize the family living room and take the lead in opening the era of sports VR;

On June 3, Whale provided the first VR live football service in China for the Chinese team;

On June 19, Whaley Technology and Canxing Production jointly launched the first EDM music program in China, "The Heroes";

On June 21, Chris Lee unveiled the first VR version of the MV "Open" shot by Whale VR.

On June 27, Weijing and IPCN launched the country's first "non-stop" office reality show "The Intern";

In addition, Weijing has also obtained exclusive VR co-production cooperation rights for several popular entertainment IP programs including "The Voice of China", "Amazing Challenge", and "King of Masked Singer".

In just over two months, the report card handed in by Weijing is enough to make its competitors gasp. You know, as VR video content providers, iQiyi, LeTV, Tencent, Mango TV, etc. can be regarded as Weijing's predecessors, but most of them remain in the shouting stage and have no substantial breakthroughs.

Industry insiders analyzed that "in the first half of 2016, the VR industry is undergoing a second reshuffle, this time affecting the VR content industry. Very unique and competitive works are easy to be discovered, and companies with complete business lines can also stand out."

What Weijing lacks the least in VR is content. Backed by the high-quality content, platform, and technical resources of the entire industry chain of Chinese culture, media, and entertainment, Weijing has accumulated leading experience in the front-end production of VR content, live broadcast shooting, and head-mounted display technology.

Li Huaiyu once revealed that Whale VR will build three VR ecosystems in the future: in-depth cooperation with 100 VR-related companies through the Hundred Companies Plan, connecting companies, colleges and laboratories through the VR Association, and attracting more innovative talents through the VR Video Art Festival. All of these have laid a good foundation for its rapid expansion of content.

Hidden clues: Backed by Chinese culture and doing enough technical homework

Just like its layout in the field of smart TV, Whaley Technology also adopts a content-driven full value chain strategy of software and hardware integration in the field of VR. After having content, technology is also an indispensable factor to support the development of VR. Li Ruigang, Chairman of China Media and Chairman of Whaley Technology, believes that "the significance and key to the success of VR lies in the creation of a systematic and comprehensive capability. In this system, technology, content and platform are all indispensable."

At the end of May, Whaley and SMG joined hands with JAUNT, a well-known VR film and television company in Silicon Valley, to jointly invest a total of US$100 million to establish "JAUNT China". The company will gather the advantages of the resources of all shareholders to provide high-end VR film and television content of movie quality for the vast number of Chinese users. The establishment of JANUT China also marks that the high-quality content ecology of Whaley VR is becoming more and more perfect, and the production level has reached the international leading level, further establishing Whaley's position as a domestic VR leader.

It is understood that Whale VR has begun to use JAUNT's latest new generation VR camera ONE to shoot multiple VR projects. The camera system has multiple built-in cameras that can capture 360-degree videos with at least 4K resolution and above 60FPS, and can adapt to dimly lit environments, with excellent features such as high dynamic images and soft light capture. What makes other VR content teams even more unmatched is that there are currently no more than 30 JAUNT ONE cameras in the world, while Whale already has more than 20.

On June 19, the first VR variety show "The Heroes" jointly created by Whale and Xingcan in China combined the emerging electronic music trend with the popular virtual technology to provide an excellent audio-visual experience for young audiences in the Chinese market. The successful broadcast of this program once again proved the outstanding technical strength of Whale VR. In this cooperation, Whale first realized multi-camera and 360° 3D panoramic light field technology in China, so that the sense of presence and atmosphere of the variety show can be truly restored with the help of VR technology, so that the audience outside the venue can also feel the hot atmosphere of the scene in person.

From the current situation, Whaley Technology's VR layout has covered all links of the industry chain, from recording equipment and camera systems to content production and investment, and then to the output of downstream hardware and platforms. From TV to VR, Whaley Technology's approach is to give full play to the media advantages accumulated in the past, and build a business model of hardware plus media integration around user needs.

With CMC's strong control over IP, coupled with Whaley's continuous internetization of content and gameplay, as well as its accumulation of hardware and technology, it has already emerged as a "giant".

Li Huaiyu said that although VR has given us a good dream, in fact, for everyone to have a real high-quality experience, both Weijing and the industry still have a long way to go. Facing the VR boom that only comes once every five years, it requires great ambition, determination, and patience to keep going. The right strategy and solid products are not just talk to create the Alibaba Weijing of the VR world.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.