StubHub Lets Event-goers View Their Seats In Virtual Reality
(Updated with the addition of Rukkus Seat360, a similar product to StubHub’s offering.)
Many companies believe in the fact that VR has a long way to go in terms of potential. They believe that VR is not just a passing fad, but it could be a platform of itself. And now, some companies are also exploring ways how to benefit from VR in terms of increase in sales.
A company called StubHub, which provides a live event ticket service, is now tapping into virtual reality to benefit both their customers and their sales. By using virtual reality to project the exact 360-degree view from any seat in an event, such as a sporting one, lets their patrons choose the best seat in the house. You can now make sure that your seat is worth its price.
The company announced Thursday that it is venturing into VR with a feature called “virtual view”, giving its ticket buyers the option to preview their seats in immersive VR. In addition, those who will be buying passes for the San Francisco Giants baseball game at AT&T Park will have an option to see their seats using VR.
The experience will work from within the existing StubHub apps for iOS and Android. Customers will have the option of either using a smartphone or tablet and rotating it around to see different views, or popping their phone into a VR headset like Google Cardboard or Gear VR for a more immersive view.
StubHub isn’t alone, with other online ticket sellers, teams and venues also working to offer interactive seat maps using virtual reality. One of its rivals Rukkus is working on a similar product called Seat360, which gives would-be seat buyers a chance to view their potential seats using immersive panoramic photography. StubHub, meanwhile, has opted for 3-D renderings over actual photography.
StubHub executives said the VR renderings offer a cleaner, smoother and a cheaper method to give ticket buyers a preview of their seats.
StubHub is a subsidiary of online marketplace company eBay. This experiment, as eBay plans, would not be its last as other endeavors are already planned for the core brand itself. The virtual view by StubHub will initially offer views of two event places, namely Houston’s NRG Stadium and San Francisco’s AT&T Park. The company plans to expand its virtual view feature to many other event places in the near future.
For more information on StubHub, please visit the following websites:
https://stubhubpressbox.wordpress.com
http://www.pcmag.com/news/343412/stubhub-lets-fans-preview-seats-in-vr
http://www.engadget.com/2016/03/31/stubhub-app-uses-vr-to-show-how-good-or-bad-your-seats-are/
