VR and 360 video existed before the launch of NYT VR, but until now the potential of storytelling the medium offers has failed to enter the mainstream. With The Times long tradition of pushing the limits of journalism, bringing VR to the forefront would ensure that the ever-shifting landscape of media continues to innovate and reach new audiences.

To do this, we looked no further than the devices more than half of our readers use to engage with New York Times content: smartphones. Instead of asking our audience to come to VR, we put VR at their fingertips. But to give them the true VR experience we did something more: By leveraging The New York Times’ cost-effective distribution network, we supplied 1.3 million subscribers with Google Cardboard headsets. The app coupled with the headsets allowed a larger audience than ever before to truly experience the magic of VR.

As Times’ Executive Vice President and Chief Revenue Officer Meredith Kopit Levien remarked, it’s not without irony that “it takes the print newspaper—a 164-year old business—to deliver one of the most advanced digital storytelling technologies” to its largest audience ever. And in lovely unity, both the legacy newspaper and Google Cardboard are made of the same material.

Indeed, past innovations set the stage for today’s advances, and the magic of NYT VR lies in the capabilities of modern smartphones, and the app’s ability to harness them. Running on phones placed inside Google Cardboard headsets, the NYT VR app immersed viewers in a 360 world, where the possibilities are truly endless. “The Displaced” transported them abroad to experience the child refugee crisis. Mini took them inside the drama of an action-thriller. And GE transported viewers to a world where nature inspires innovation. With new films continually joining the NYT VR app, the possibilities for exploration have only just begun.

In the days following launch, NYT VR quickly became The New York Times most rapidly adopted app and by April had more than 500,000 downloads, including 1.5 million+ views of NYT VR content.

As expected, the NYT VR had a tremendous impact:

-Over 500,000 downloads of the NYT VR app, the fastest app adoption in NYT history.

-NYT VR content viewed more than 1.5 million times.

-An average of 6 minutes in-app engagement time.

Due to the success of the first program, a further 300,000 headsets will be distributed to select digital-only subscribers.

Additional advertisers that have since shared VR films to run on the NYT app include Weinstein Company, Lufthansa and others in progress.

The execution as a whole saw significant mainstream press coverage. The GE partnership landed on AdAge’s Best Branded Content Partnerships of 2015, as well as helping T Brand Studio to be named Ad Week’s Hottest in Native Advertising in 2015.

The project is the result of the alliance between several brands to launch NYT VR and deliver 1.3 million Google Cardboard headsets — the largest ever single distribution of VR technology. With a wide-reaching readership that includes C-suite executives and tech enthusiasts, the audience was ideal to engage with technology from Google, Mini and GE.

The alignment of brands is reflective of this forward-thinking goal. At once iconic and innovative, GE’s digital approach looks to lead industry into the technological future, while Mini has long established itself as a forward-thinking and urban automaker. Meanwhile, Google remains among the most pioneering and important technology companies of the 21st century. United by the storytelling pedigree of The Times, these brands found themselves ideally situated to make NYT VR a reality for an eager audience of millions.

The NYT VR app grew out of the shared vision of The Times’ newsroom, its advertising department and brand partners to realize virtual reality as a mainstream form of storytelling. The NYT VR launch not only put VR software in the hands of a larger audience than ever before, but it allowed them to fully engage with the technology via an unprecedented distribution of Google Cardboard headsets to 1.3 million New York Times subscribers. What’s more, the app allowed brands and readers alike to share in The Times’ long history of boundary-breaking storytelling, placing NYT VR in a tradition of proven success with new and interactive mediums.

The app gave users a range of novel and hard-earned VR experiences. Be it the far-flung locations seen in “The Displaced” and Mini’s films, or the never-before-seen animation of GE, each film played a vital role in ushering VR into the mainstream.