MuchMusic Taps Immersive Media to Power Live, 360-Degree, Full-Motion, Interactive Video

Immersive Media, a Portland, Oregon-based company that has developed a patented technology, dubbed IM LIVE, that enables viewer-controlled, 360-degree, live, full-motion, interactive video experiences (note: the experience of watching video powered by the technology is akin to watching a video version of Google Street View), will today announce a deployment of the technology with Canada's MuchMusic, which plans to use it to stream live video from its MuchOnDemand studio to visitors to its Web site, muchmusic.com, in order to complement its on-air programming. MuchMusic's IM LIVE-powered Webcasts are expected to launch this week and should be available here daily at 5:00PM Eastern.

Immersive Media bills IM LIVE as "plac[ing] online audiences in the middle of a live event and giv[ing] them full control of their viewing experience." Each viewer can click and drag their computer mouse to independently control their own point of view, the company says, looking sideways, up or down, or all around, and zooming in and out of the action. "Immersive Media has enabled MuchMusic to give our fans exclusive access to our live events and programming that makes them feel like they are actually in our studio," Ryan Trotman, director of Much MTV Digital, said in a prepared statement. "The 360-degree interactive experience allows fans to take control of their favorite shows like 'MuchOnDemand' and 'Live in the Lot' to give them their own personal experience with their favorite artists and Much VJ's. Being at the leading edge of technology is enabling MuchMusic to interact with its audience in powerful, new ways. Technologies like IM LIVE are allowing us to bring in additional viewers to our live show and complement our on-air programming."

According to Immersive Media, MuchMusic--which earlier this year offered HD Smooth Streaming in association with its MuchMusic Video Awards--will combine IM LIVE-powered interactive video with social media, in order to enable real-time, online interaction and create what it is billing as "the ultimate live experience." "IM LIVE is a breakthrough technology that brings the online audience into a live event just as if they were in the studio or concert hall," Immersive Media COO, Karen Tanaka, said in a prepared statement. "We have been thrilled to work with MuchMusic to enable them to set a new benchmark for the 'ultimate' live experience."

Immersive Media bills IM LIVE as a "turnkey" system that enables broadcasters, advertisers and interactive marketers to deliver live, interactive 360-degree video. It is comprised of the company's 11-lens Dodeca 2360 camera and a streaming encoding server that delivers real-time video on the Web. The company claims that the system is easy to deploy and integrate into any broadcast video production framework, and that it provides various significant benefits to both broadcasters and marketers: because it enables viewers to control the viewing experience and feel what it is like to be at a live event, Immersive Media claims, it results in longer viewing times and a richer, more enjoyable viewing experience. This "stickiness," the company says, offers "unique opportunities" for sponsors and advertisers to capture viewers' attention for longer periods of time.