Live events

[redrog]

So here is a thought experiment.

There is a lot of money in sport. There are a lot of people who watch sport. If you take the English Premier League as an example, the current linear broadcasters stump up something like £6 billion every four years to show games. The world wide audience is somewhere in the region of 1 billion. If you were to create a compelling as-if-you-were-there experience on Vision Pro, it could drive sales as well as justify the cost of the rights in one swoop. For example, say Apple makes £1000 profit per device, they only need 0.6% of that audience (6 million people) to buy one to cover the outlay. That’s even before you start charging for subscriptions. The sums seem do-able.

Then you can apply the same logic for other sports, concerts and so on.

The biggest issue of course is ‘can Apple create a compelling as-if-you-were-there experience on Vision Pro’?

I watch a lot of sport on TV and live. I go to fair number of gigs too. Even with the best TV coverage in the world, it never surpasses (or comes close to) actually being there.

But what are the elements of live that TV cant replicate? The view is never as good so it’s not that. BT Sport in the UK trialled a live 360 camera in the stands at a few games which was a novelty, but ultimately it isn’t as good as watching the normal coverage. You certainly couldn’t say it was like being there.

It’s hard to put your finger on it beyond ‘atmosphere’ or ‘shared experience’. Can this ever be matched or surpassed to a point that people are willing to fork out for a headset and sit at home with it on rather than actually being there?

Vision Pro is a remarkable immersive device, but is it good enough?

 

[Abazigal]

I feel the main proposition is always “good enough” while being way more convenient than the alternative.

For example, maybe the vision pro will never be as immersive as actually being at a live concert or sporting event, but it can be “immersive enough” while also allowing users to consume content without needing to deal with the hassle of say, dealing with ticket scalpers, travelling to the venue (what more when I live in another country), jostling with crowds or just being stuck in a subpar seating location.

It’s pretty much the reason why I don’t go to cinemas anymore. The allure of watching a show on the big screen was just overshadowed by every other drawback and inconvenience combined that I was content to just wait for it to hit streaming.

 

[bkkcanuck8]

I feel the main proposition is always “good enough” while being way more convenient than the alternative.

For example, maybe the vision pro will never be as immersive as actually being at a live concert or sporting event, but it can be “immersive enough” while also allowing users to consume content without needing to deal with the hassle of say, dealing with ticket scalpers, travelling to the venue (what more when I live in another country), jostling with crowds or just being stuck in a subpar seating location.

It’s pretty much the reason why I don’t go to cinemas anymore. The allure of watching a show on the big screen was just overshadowed by every other drawback and inconvenience combined that I was content to just wait for it to hit streaming.

I would say sport has the highest probability, live concert would be better managed as an event managed specifically for producing 3D content (i.e. theme of a local pub - more intimate - where sound and views can be better managed). Mega concerts are more for bragging rights - of I was there... rather than the best environment to hear. Cinemas will at most be 180 degree content from a viewpoint (it is already more difficult and constly even moreso than just replacing cameras). These are all things that would be money losers in the short term, and only worthwhile to drive adoption for companies like Apple who have deep pockets. I expect the MLS content (Football - real type - but in North America) which is on Apple TV already -- the primary driver was to develop and demonstrate what was possible without immediately getting into mass markets that would be less forgiving of mistakes.

 

[kkee]

I am not much into sport but I can see how watching live sports from premium spot as if you where there in person would be an amazing experience (especially if it was free or with a fraction of cost). Also, there is a benefit of unlimited rewatchability. I tried concert once (not live) with Meta Quest 2 and it was great, though the quality is less than desirable. I think Vision Pro with its high resolutions and zero latency will give a lot more life-like experience. I am sure Apple would use a much better 3D camera too, and I have an inkling this would open up a new business for them.