The all-time greats of Michael Phelps, Katie Ledecky and Simone Biles have been dominating the daily headlines from the 2016 Olympic Games, stockpiling medals as if were a Gold Rush.

Fans who want a better focus, or a bigger picture on the manifold moments from Rio constantly ranging from triumph to defeat by the minute, will be thrilled to know that Reuters is using the Summer Games to showcase the athletes that will inspire generations to come by using their gravitas in the fairly nascent storytelling medium of virtual reality.

Samsung is standing firmly in the center of the VR revolution—and even more so in Rio. Before the Opening Ceremony, the tech conglomerate collaborated with Reuters for the Focus 360 partnership to bring virtual reality and 360-degree video and photography to all of Reuters’ platforms. Reuters journalists will be using Samsung Gear 360 cameras and editing technology, which is not yet publicly available.

“Reuters’ core business is based on delivering trusted information and news to global consumers and publishers, in all available formats,” Jess April, Reuters’ head of strategic partnerships and program management, told [a]listdaily. “VR and 360 photography are unique, visual mediums to tell the world’s stories—and as a partner to so many media organizations, it’s important that we’re using, testing and distributing the latest multimedia news products.”

The Rio Games have unofficially turned into the VR Olympics, immersing viewers like never before. Samsung is also spearheading 85 hours of VR programming with NBC over the 16-day event.

Getty Images is another news organization pushing the limits of storytelling with a similar strategy to Reuters. Getty Images jumped head first into the VR pool this year to start shooting over 180,000 events with 360 cameras—photos taken by underwater robots and shots in VR have already surfaced from the Summer Games.

Across the pond, BBC has introduced BBC Sport 360, an experiential service for the UK audience, and brands like Kellogg’s have used the Olympics for marketing a 360-degree video. Even athletes from the US Cycling Team are all in on VR, using the technology to train for the games.

Jess April joined [a]listdaily to further discuss how Reuters will provide rich VR and 360 content to meet the changing needs of customers.

2016 Rio Olympics - Athletics - Final - Men's 100m Final - Olympic Stadium - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - 14/08/2016. Usain Bolt (JAM) of Jamaica celebrates after winning the gold medal. REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach
Usain Bolt of Jamaica celebrates after winning the gold medal. (REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach)

What is the mission of Focus 360? How will you measure success?

There are two goals associated with this program—the first is to create unique, compelling and exciting content that our Reuters.com readers will enjoy and find value in watching. The second is to offer a new format of storytelling to our global publishing partners, giving them the opportunity to leverage Reuters content to enhance their own platforms and stories. In addition to watching the traffic and views on Reuters.com, we’ll be looking to see how many of our customers download or embed our VR and 360 stories to determine success.

Why was Samsung the perfect partner for this initiative? How do you plan on leveraging their suite of VR services?

This partnership came together in an organic way because our editorial team had a desire to begin capturing VR content, and they had already been using and testing the Samsung gear. Given a sense of familiarity with the equipment, we felt confident that we could scale our usage across the globe, and deliver new content for our customers and Reuters.com visitors. Samsung is also a great marketing partner given its eagerness to enable Reuters and other publishers to do things that they have never done before—but asking that we stay true to our editorial principles. Our collaboration on this project allowed us to continue to report on news the way we always have, but now with the latest 360 technology.

Getty Images recently got into the VR fold, too. How will 360-degree video and VR change journalism for storytellers across the world?

Our VR and 360 video provide our users with more information about what happened in one particular moment in time, giving a new angle to our storytelling. In addition to enjoying Reuters award-winning photography and video coverage, our readers and customers can now go in-depth with our journalists to find out more about their stories—What is happening behind the camera? How were bystanders reacting? What was the weather like that day? A 360 photo or video provides a new perspective to our unmatched global coverage.

The Opening ceremony at Maracana, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (REUTERS/Antonio Bronic)
The Opening ceremony at Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (REUTERS/Antonio Bronic)

What is it going to take for immersive storytelling methods to be mainstream?

Like all new innovations, it will take public adoption of the latest and greatest technology for immersive storytelling to truly go mainstream. As people upgrade their phones, computers, tablets, watches—whatever gear they use to consume content—publishers will see increased views and more interaction with VR. This is a new medium for publishers—and as a breaking news operation, we’re experimenting with how this content can add more value to our readers and our business.

How can advertisers and marketers begin incorporating 360-degree video and VR into their brand strategy? 

By working with publishers, who are true experts in storytelling, there’s no limit to what advertisers can do to enhance their campaigns and interact with their customers. There’s an amazing opportunity to exercise the art of creativity and surprise by using VR. It’s a great time to get in on the ground floor with 360 video and advertisers and marketers should jump to get involved with this new medium of storytelling.

VR technology is still in its infancy. Do you believe your audience is ready for photography and video VR? What are the numbers indicating for previous projects?

The Reuters.com audience is extremely savvy and the adoption of interactive multimedia stories has skyrocketed. Through the launch of Reuters TV, our video news app, we’ve seen new users with an insatiable appetite for visual content consumption. As our users clamor for more content, it’s a natural progression for us to find new formats to bring them stories. VR and 360 provide us with an opportunity to increase the output of our newsgathering services in engaging and stimulating ways.

Brazil's Ygor Coelho de Oliveira waves to fans after losing the match against Ireland's Scott Evans during the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, August 13, 2016. Ygor Coelho grew up just half an hour north of Rio’s bright new Olympic Park and a world away, in the Chacrinha favela. His father built a badminton gym to change young lives and few were transformed more than Ygor’s, who has been playing since he could walk. He is now the best in Brazil and a competitor on the international circuit, but on Saturday he had the rare opportunity to compete at the highest level with the home crowd behind him. REUTERS/Antonio Bronic
Brazil’s Ygor Coelho de Oliveira waves to fans during the Olympic Games. (REUTERS/Antonio Bronic)

How much weight will mobile and social carry for VR, and what is your strategy for those platforms? 

Mobile and social platforms are great for consuming any content—and VR and 360 are no different. We want to ensure our readers can view our 360 content wherever they access Reuters news—across Reuters.com, Reuters TV and Reuters apps. In addition to those Reuters properties, we will also be publishing our VR content across our social media channels. We’ve already seen some of our publisher partners adopting the VR content we’re creating for use on their own websites—but they’re also publishing directly to social media. It’s great to see how this content will be organically used as we continue to grow our product.

What is Reuters’ integrated marketing strategy to have consumers clamoring for this kind of content moving forward?

This program provides the opportunity for Reuters to dive head-first into the world of VR and 360. We can create content from all over the world, analyze what our clients and users want to see and then continue to produce what we find to be most popular, valuable and newsworthy. We want to discover what 360 content works well for our desktop, mobile and social platforms—but also, what’s useful for our news agency customers. We want to be efficient and creative about what we produce, so we can work to develop the best VR and 360 news offering out in the market.

Follow Manouk Akopyan on Twitter @Manouk_Akopyan

2016 Rio Olympics - Opening ceremony - Maracana - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - 05/08/2016. Performers take part in the opening ceremony. REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach
The Rio Games have unofficially turned into the VR Olympics, immersing viewers like never before. (REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach)