EEVO, a New York based cinematic VR video platform, is preparing to launch into the world of made-for-VR video with its Netflix-style service. Their hopes: to establish a paid (and therefore instantly monetized) service to immediately attract the most compelling premium content from big studios and Indie producers alike.
We were first introduced to EEVO (formerly VCEMO) in late 2014 via the startup’s Kickstarter campaign, a time when a host of similar services sprung up in what we called ‘The Race to become the YouTube of VR‘. Although the campaign didn’t reach its $30,000 crowdfunding goal, the young team—a group of students at Vassar College in New York—were far from calling it quits.
EEVO has since nabbed $1 million in their first round of seed funding after their transition from part-time crowdfunding project to their current team of 8 full-time team members, and will be raising a second round in the near future.
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I recently sat down with Alejandro Dinsmore, CMO at EEVO, to find out more about the up and coming platform, and how their adoption of their new paid service model is differentiating them from the pack.
“We began to realize that if we wanted to have a content platform that would really stand out, we would have to carefully curate the content to make sure that only the very best was put on the platform…We want to give the die-hard producers a platform where they know their content will be next to other great content,” said Dinsmore.
EVVO’s focus is decidedly on compelling narratives, and other cinematic uses of the new medium, but anyone with anything “high-quality enough” will also come under consideration.
Dinsmore told me that collaborations are decided on a case-by-case basis, and that EEVO has also expressed interest in partially funding content creators. In addition, collaborators will retain IP, and will garner revenue splits to sweeten the pot. Simply put, indie studios producing high-quality content could get start up money for projects, host their content with EEVO, and immediately earn a piece of the metaphorical 360 pie—making the service an attractive option for anyone with the talent and equipment, but not the requisite funds.
The service will initially target for release on Samsung Gear VR, but support for other platforms is sure to follow. Besides content hosting, EEVO says they are also providing producers with a suite of high-end analytics to see how viewers are engaging with their work.
Anyone interested in collaborating with EEVO can contact them at questions@eevo.com