Virtual Reality: Which Sectors have the Biggest Appeal for Consumers?

There is a general perception that gamers are the main target audience for virtual reality (VR) experiences, and our research finds this opinion is shared by 60% of participants. There is an emerging awareness of VR in the UK, with 59% of men boasting a strong understanding of VR, compared with 46% of women. Men also lead the way in terms of affinity to the technology, with 55% expressing a strong interest in experiencing VR versus 40% of women. When asked about the type of VR experiences people want to experience, the most popular was travel (56%), closely followed by music (52%), such as being in the crowd at a concert. In terms of who consumers would like to see content from, the most popular two sources are from broadcasters like the BBC or Sky (41%), or on-demand services like Netflix (29%). However, a third are still unsure saying they do not know. Overall, there is a strong demand from consumers who feel interested and knowledgeable. They are open to many different types of experiences, providing opportunities for brands to create and capitalise on first mover advantages. The VR platform is constantly evolving and we predict the future of research in this field will quickly be applied to:

• VR focus groups and interviews - allowing diverse groups of participants to come together in a malleable environment
• In-store and in-situ experiences - being able to control and change environments
• New product development - allowing pack ideas to be better explored without the development of full prototypes
• VR + neuro combinations - to simultaneously engage and measure the brain’s response to stimuli such as advertising in more realistic context

If you want to find out more about how to harness insight from virtual reality contact Neil Stevenson, Richard Garnham or Usman Khawaja.