Mango TV officially starts its VR journey with Super Girl

Nowadays, it is no longer a new thing for an Internet company to enter the VR industry. After all, there is never a shortage of big players in the VR circle.

As a lone ranger in the Internet video industry, Mango TV played the VR card at the press conference of "2016 Super Girl", attracting a large number of fans. Is Mango TV ready to break into virtual reality at this time?

VR live broadcast of Super Girl finally confirmed the rumors

At the end of last year, after Huang Dong, who has a technical background, joined Mango TV as CTO, rumors began to circulate that Mango TV would focus on the VR industry in the future. At the press conference of "Super Girl 2016" on March 7, VR technology was used for the first time to live broadcast the press conference, confirming the rumors that Mango VR is really coming. At the press conference, Mango TV provided 400 Baofeng Magic Mirrors for the guests and used panoramic cameras for live recording. The introduction of VR technology at such a large-scale press conference shows Mango TV's active attitude in trying innovative Internet technologies.

According to Huang Dong, Mango TV has previously tried three VR live broadcasts on this season's "I Am a Singer", which were very successful. This time, the VR live broadcast at the Super Girls press conference not only allows fans to fully experience the on-site atmosphere, but also allows everyone to understand that Mango TV is very willing to promote virtual reality technology. It hopes to use the Super Girls super IP to let more people know that VR can be played in this way.

As we all know, an emerging market must have a burst point to explode, but what is the current burst point of virtual reality? Many people's answer is: hardware. In the past two years, the number of VR users has grown rapidly, exceeding the cumulative number of users in the previous ten years, but it is not because the VR ecosystem has been formed, but because there are more VR glasses on the market. At present, there are more than 100 manufacturers developing VR equipment in China, represented by Baofeng, Ruiyue, Yishi, and 3Glasses.

This time, Mango TV chose to use Baofeng Magic Mirror as VR hardware at the press conference. Regarding whether it will launch its own virtual reality hardware products in the future, Huang Dong revealed, "Mango TV will not directly participate in the production and manufacturing of VR, but will be interested in all VR-related smart hardware. We also hope to launch a Mango VR product at an appropriate time." However, considering that the current form of VR hardware products on the market is still immature, Huang Dong believes that it will take time for Mango TV to launch hardware products.

The VR industry is still lacking in platform companies

At present, most domestic companies involved in VR projects are start-up companies that are good at single-point breakthroughs. In the future, the VR industry can only be truly launched through vertical integration of the value chain from platform to content source to terminal. From the domestic situation, there are only a handful of companies that have the ability to integrate the entire VR industry chain, including LeTV, Tencent, and Mango TV, which has just entered the VR industry. They have the ability to fill the content gap of VR products and the ability to extend to the hardware field, connecting hardware, content, and distribution.

One factor that cannot be ignored in Mango TV's VR business is the strong Hunan TV background behind it, which has two powerful platforms - Hunan TV and Mango TV. Thanks to the strong program production background, it is not difficult to imagine that after entering VR, Hunan TV will directly participate in the production of VR programs in the future, which will make up for the lack of VR content in China in a short period of time.

On the other hand, the development of Mango TV's Internet variety shows will give VR more diversified gameplay and ideas, which is very likely to solve the problem of VR monetization. To give a simple example, when a user is watching the VR live broadcast of "Super Girl", he can choose the viewing angle online, and there will definitely be a difference in the viewing effect between the first row and the last row.

Huang Dong said that Mango TV has a good platform and many super IPs that can attract more users to get in touch with VR. Virtual reality is a large-scale industry. From IP to production to processing and production to broadcasting to equipment selection, Mango TV can cover all aspects of this industry chain, which is also its biggest advantage at present.

The VR industry as a whole is still in its early stages, with high technical barriers and requires strong technical and content support to be commercialized. 2016 will be a key year for the development of virtual reality, and with the entry of giants, its market structure will become increasingly clear.

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.