NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Huffington Post today announced the launch of its comprehensive 360° and VR capabilities across all platforms, bringing HuffPost RYOT content to HuffPost’s global audience across desktop, mobile, and apps. The new players combine the immersive capabilities of HuffPost RYOT, the massive global scale of The Huffington Post, and the innovative technology of Verizon Labs to power the next stage of virtual reality viewing.
True to The Huffington Post’s mission to inform, inspire, entertain and empower its audience, the platform aims to deliver the best and most immersive storytelling experience to readers by transporting them to the center of the action. The HuffPost RYOT team will be on the ground at the 2016 Republican and Democratic National Conventions beginning next week broadcasting immersive 360° videos, updates, and breaking news. The new VR platform will debut Monday, July 18 with daily HuffPost RYOT content from Cleveland and Philadelphia.
"At The Huffington Post, we are constantly disrupting ourselves and pushing boundaries,” said Arianna Huffington, Co-Founder and Editor-in-Chief of The Huffington Post. “The way we cover news continues to evolve and we’re thrilled to share this immersive journalism with our HuffPost audience around the world -- beginning with our 360° on the ground reporting from the upcoming presidential conventions. HuffPost is committed to telling the most important stories of our time through award-winning reporting, original video, platforms such as Facebook Live and Snapchat, and now with virtual reality."
"It's a game changer. The Verizon virtual reality platform allows HuffPost RYOT to execute on our vision of creating the largest global 360° news network with distribution through native app experiences, desktop and mobile web,” said Bryn Mooser, CEO and Co-Founder of RYOT. “This is a huge mainstream moment for VR and we are so excited to have HuffPost RYOT powered by this best-in-class new player. We will be able to create amazing immersive experiences in VR for news and partner brands and simultaneously reach a massive global audience through Verizon and AOL."
“The powerful combination of Verizon Labs, The Huffington Post, HuffPost RYOT and AOL enables us to demonstrate the type of meaningful play we can make together in this space,” said Guru Pai, Chief Product Officer of Verizon Labs. “Verizon Labs and its VR technology are poised to lead the advancement of storytelling platforms of the future.”
What the VR Players Will Offer:
Mobile: By tilting and panning their devices, HuffPost mobile web and app users can experience the "magic window", allowing them to explore the full 360° environment from within the article.
Desktop: Users can also experience 360° content directly from HuffPost’s front page and article pages where they can navigate the environment using a mouse or keyboard.
Apps: HuffPost iOS and Android apps will embed 360° content throughout the apps’ article pages. App capabilities also add the option to view our videos in a VR environment, with a headset or cardboard device.
It was announced in April that RYOT, the immersive media company and virtual reality content studio, joined The Huffington Post, a leading global source of breaking news, opinion, entertainment and community, to deliver award-winning films, linear video, 360°, and VR content. Verizon Labs created this first-of-its-kind virtual reality pipeline as a way to deliver VR content to multiple platforms, which will enable HuffPost readers -- across all 15 global editions -- to experience immersive journalism and next-generation entertainment.
In addition to The Huffington Post, various AOL owned and operated properties will have access to HuffPost RYOT’s VR and 360° capabilities to develop editorial and branded video content. HuffPost RYOT will also enhance the content capabilities of Partner Studio by AOL, by providing cutting-edge, immersive solutions for advertisers. Together, Partner Studio and HuffPost RYOT will help brands tell stories in new and meaningful ways, by spotlighting the world’s most interesting innovators, disruptors and agents for change.
About The Huffington Post
The Huffington Post is a Pulitzer Prize-winning source of breaking news, video, features, and entertainment, as well as a highly engaged global community for opinion and conversation. The platform has 100,000 bloggers, from politicians, students and celebrities to academics, parents and policy experts, who contribute in real-time on the subjects about which they are most passionate. The Huffington Post is committed to covering our core editorial pillars -- news and politics, wellness, and solutions to the world's biggest problems -- and using every available tool and platform, including virtual reality and immersive storytelling, to inform, inspire, entertain and empower. The Huffington Post has editions in the UK, Canada, France, Spain, Italy, Japan, Maghreb, Germany, Brazil, South Korea, Greece, India, Australia and the Arab world, and is part of AOL Inc.
