REALIVE360: Multi-angle Virtual-reality Video-streaming Service that Gives the Viewer a Realistic Feeling of Being in a Theater

1. Current status of live music and other events during the COVID-19 pandemic

The novel-coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has dramatically changed the event industry. Under the state of emergency imposed by the Japanese government to stop the spread of the virus in early 2020, almost all events and performances were canceled, postponed, or reduced in scale. Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games were postponed, and professional baseball and football leagues have been forced to postpone the opening of their seasons. Even after the state of emergency was lifted, music festivals, local festivals, and other events that were scheduled to be held in 2020 had been cancelled, postponed, or scaled back considerably. Clusters of COVID-19 infections linked to music-related events have been reported, so people’s self-restraint generated under the state of emergency is continuing; thus, live-music venues across Japan have been closing one after another. The results of a computer simulation showed that if physical distance is maintained in a theater to prevent the spread of COVID-19, the room will be “full” at 15% capacity. These results have attracted significant attention [1]. Under these circumstances, the holding of events offline is not expected to return to “normal” anytime soon.

2. Online streaming of spectatorless events

Although it is difficult to hold events offline, a new style of event called “online streaming of spectatorless events” is emerging. The band Southern All Stars performed a live broadcast without spectators, and the number of people who purchased tickets reached about 180,000, which generated sales of an estimated 650 million yen (equivalent to about 6 million US dollars) [2]. That number of people was more than ten times the capacity of the venue being live streamed (17,000 people), and it has made the potential of online streaming known to a wider audience.

The advantage of online streaming is that the unit price of tickets is set at 2000 to 3000 yen, which is significantly lower than regular music concerts, so people who are willing to pay that amount will purchase tickets. What’s more, if the event is held on a weekday evening, fans from afar who are unable to get to the event for various reasons can simply decide to watch it online. Reducing the price of live-streaming tickets would be thought to lead to a decrease in sales; however, it made it possible to sell tickets to people who were reluctant to buy tickets and fans who had given up watching live shows.

3. REALIVE360

NTT WEST Group’s Smart Life team began developing the multi-angle virtual-reality (VR) video-streaming service called REALIVE360 in 2018 (Fig. 1). Initially, our slogan for developing this service was to “Eliminate the disparity in experiences and opportunities between urban and rural areas through the power of ICT (information and communication technology).” The majority of entertainment-related events and people mobilized for such events, including live music, is concentrated in urban areas, and it is a hurdle for music fans living in rural areas to spend time and money on transportation to attend a concert in urban areas. Moreover, many people, such as the disabled, seniors, and families with small children, who love music, theater, and sports have difficulty getting to venues. We developed REALIVE360 as a service that enables such people to experience—with a high level of realism—concerts and other events held in urban areas, even if they live in remote rural areas (Fig. 2). In addition to the streaming technology of NTT WEST Group, we have established a collaborative system in partnership with companies such as Alpha Code Inc. that handles VR filming and editing. At the end of 2019, we streamed a live performance of Momoiro Clover Z, a Japanese idol group, which attracted a lot of attention as the first artist to be streamed. After that, as mentioned in the introduction, online streaming of events became the mainstream due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We collaborated with the radio station FM802 to implement REALIVE360 VR ZONE, a project to support the music industry, which is suffering from a decline in audience numbers and cancellation of events due to the pandemic (Fig. 3). We have accumulated achievements such as the streaming of the online event J-WAVE Innovation World Festa and the stage version of the animated movie “For Whom the Alchemist Exists.”

Fig. 1. Poster of REALIVE360.

Fig. 2. Illustration of REALIVE360 service.

Fig. 3. Performance by Kyuso Nekokami at REALIVE360 VR ZONE.

4. Future developments

As explained above, REALIVE360 is currently mainly used for entertainment. We have received many requests for additional functions from event organizers who are service users, and we are currently developing the following functions; (i) those that enable the user to do online what used to be done when running events offline, such as a function that allows performers and viewers to communicate interactively and a function that displays advertisements such as sponsors; (ii) those that can be implemented only by online streaming, such as a money-transfer function that allows viewers to send money with a feeling of gratitude and support to the provider and a function for analyzing viewing data; and (iii) those that improve viewing extensibility, namely, a cast function allowing the VR videos to be viewed on a television or a web browser in addition to on the current app.

We plan to further expand REALIVE360 service into other fields such as education and tourism to cultivate the business-to-business market. We are also considering partnerships that transcend industry boundaries and hope to hear a wide range of opinions to help us solve problems and create new value in a variety of business situations.

References

[1]	Okinawa Times, “It’s almost empty, but with this it’s full—A ‘question’ raised by a theater draws attention,” May 2020 (in Japanese).
[2]	Net IB News, “Southern All Stars’ spectatorless live concert earned ticket sales of 650 million yen. Online streaming is a glimmer of hope,” July 2020 (in Japanese), https://www.data-max.co.jp/article/36502

Authors (from left): Masanori Emura, Manager, Business Design Department; Takahiko Sasahara, Senior Manager, Business Design Department; and Takafumi Fukatani, Chief, Business Design Department; NTT WEST Corporation