National Geographic and YouTube will work together on 3 virtual reality projects, the first of which will debut on December 11. The Virtual Reality series will be included in the platform’s extensive catalog of VR content.
“National Geographic has always crossed the boundaries of visual storytelling,” said Jenna Pirog, senior director of video and immersive experiences at National Geographic.
“We want to build a long-term partnership with Youtube that will enable us to stay at the forefront of the industry by combining immersive technology with powerful storytelling,” he added.
The first project will be a four-part series called The Okavango Experience. The series takes our viewers to the Okavango Delta, Africa. There is a diverse selection of wildlife including elephants, lions and hundreds of bird species. Each episode follows a team from the National Geographic Society who embark on a 4-month, over 2000km expedition through 3 countries to understand how best to protect the region’s rivers.
Each episode will be about 5 minutes long. The first will be available on the National Geographic Channel, its website and the Google Daydream VR application. The rest of the episodes will be released weekly on Tuesday.
National Geographic and Youtube will launch two more series on VR in 2019.