Seven Pacts with Samsung for Olympics VR Content

SYDNEY: Australia’s Seven has partnered with Samsung to deliver 100 hours of live and on-demand virtual-reality content from the Olympic Games in Rio.

The VR and 360-degree video will be available to select Samsung Galaxy smartphones compatible with Samsung Gear VR via the 7Rio VR 2016 app. The content will include the opening and closing ceremonies, men’s basketball, gymnastics, track and field, beach volleyball, diving, boxing and fencing, as well as highlight packages of those sports.

Kurt Burnette, the event director of the Olympic Games and chief revenue officer of Seven West Media, said: “These Olympic Games will be accessible to every Australian and promise to be the largest aggregated audience ever seen across platforms and screens. The Games content delivered and curated by Seven will be seen, heard, shared and discussed in many new ways with Seven as the driver. We are delighted to be working with Samsung to add another new dimension of content immersion to our coverage of the Olympic Games. Our move into virtual reality with Samsung was purposely created to bring Australians closer to the Games than ever before with 100 hours of virtual reality and 360-degree video. This move further underlines Seven’s commitment to innovation and our mission to increase our content’s presence in new forms of delivery.”

Clive Dickens, the chief digital officer of Seven West Media, said: “At Seven, we deliver engagement and value from powerful storytelling, and during August, some of the world’s most powerful stories will emerge during the Olympic Games. Our virtual-reality and 360-degree partnership with Samsung will be experienced by hundreds of thousands of connected Australians, many of whom will have the opportunity to experience live virtual reality sports events for the very first time.”

“We are thrilled to work with Channel Seven on this first-of-its-kind endeavor, connecting fans right to the action in Rio, powered by 360-degree storytelling, virtual reality and our Galaxy phones,” said Phillip Newton, the corporate VP and CMO of Samsung Electronics Australia.