Goodbye, Google – Hello, MuchMusic: Immersive Media strives to get its commercial groove

Despite a substantial setback with the loss of an important contract, Calgary’s Immersive Media Corp. is looking to expand its commercial business. One recent win: MuchMusic. The CTVglobemedia Inc. channel has signed on to use Immersive’s IM LIVE 360-degree interactive video platform. “We have the 360-camera live for about five hours on Friday night, as part of our main prime time programming block,” says Ryan Trotman, director of digital for MuchMusic and MTV. “People can watch their favourite shows like Vampire Diaries or Gossip Girl, or chat live with the v-jay who’s on the 360-degree camera. These are great marketing opportunities for us.” Every day at 5 p.m. EST, IM LIVE puts visitors in the middle of a live MuchMusic event, enabling people visiting Much’s web site to control their viewpoints via computer mouse: look up, down, side to side, and zoom in and out. IM LIVE is a turnkey solution consisting of Immersive’s Dodeca 2360 Camera and a streaming encoding server that delivers real-time video to users online. The camera, invented by company chief technology officer David McCutchen, has multiple lenses arranged around a sphere like a dodecahedron – a 12-sided shape consisting of pentagons. Immersive says the technology could be a boon for advertisers. The software entices web visitors to stick around longer – and the longer they stay, the greater the impact of the advertisers and sponsors’ media. In October, Microsoft Corp. chose Immersive’s technology for an online promotion of the software giant’s new video game, Halo 3: ODST. Immersive’s programming allowed visitors to the Halo web site to scan a room for information about the game. In April Immersive announced that it had created an interactive 360-degree video for the Giorgio Armani Jeans “Take Control of your Style” online marketing campaign, which allowed users to pick garments and create new looks for their personal styles. IM LIVE was also a part of the Canadian Broadcasting Corp.’s (CBC) Hockey Night in Canada Montreal Canadiens 100th Anniversary Game on Dec. 4. Sponsored by General Motors Corp. brand Chevrolet, the event let fans control their view of the game, which ended with Montreal beating the Boston Bruins 5 to 1. Immersive may well be on a roll – but it follows a stumble. The company landed search-engine giant Google Inc. in 2006. Google used Immersive’s technology for its popular Street Views system, which lets people see real images of locations they’re searching via Google’s mapping service. Two years later, Google decided to develop its own system employing still photographs instead of full-motion video. “The revenue took a hit at the end of 2008 – a big hit,” says Myles McGovern, Immersive’s CEO. Along with the Google situation, Immersive had to contend with the fact that sponsors and advertisers were pulling back as the economy worsened. That explains Immersive’s financial reports. In its fourth quarter, the company recorded a 12% revenue increase over Q3, but a 26% revenue decline over the entire year. Its net loss was $1.87 million, worse than the previous year’s loss of $1.83 million. But Google wasn’t all bad for the firm. Although short, the deal gave IM LIVE a certain amount of clout. “All of the other media and broadcast companies said, ‘If it’s good enough for Google, it’ll be good enough for us,” McGovern says. He notes that the company faces technological challenges as it tries to raise the bar with the Dodeca camera. “You’re dealing with 1.2 gigabytes per minute writing to disk. We had to develop our own operating systems to do it. Now we’re pushing that envelope again as we move into full HD. “Our current quality is far beyond the capabilities of the bandwidth,” McGovern says. “We’ve got some very unique technologies around that – patents around not only compressing the technology, but what imagery is delivered to who, when and how.” He declined to discuss the details. Immersive already has customers in the military arena using the technology for surveillance and security. The organization is focused on driving down the cost of its technology – a Dodeca camera sells for between $50,000 and $100,000 – and expanding further into commercial areas similar to the MuchMusic and Hockey Night in Canada agreements, McGovern says. He adds that Immersive is keeping its eyes open for opportunities outside of North America as well. “It’s usually best to start close to home,” and prove the technology in your own backyard first, he says.

Goodbye, Google – Hello, MuchMusic: Immersive Media strives to get its commercial groove

News | 12/11/2009 3:21 pm EST

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