In April 2015 The New York Times declared at their Second Annual NewFronts presentation that VR journalism will have “the same bright future” as photography did 119 years ago with the debut of their first Virtual Reality experience, “Walking New York”, made in partnership with us. Having successfully expanded into the digital landscape over the past 20 years, The Grey Lady wanted to maintain its command at the forefront of how we consume news and built the NYTVR app. For the app’s launch The New York Times collaborated with us once again to create “The Displaced”, a new Virtual Reality experience that places viewers directly inside the global refugee crisis.

We sent creator Imraan Ismail along with New York Times journalist Ben Solomon to South Sudan, Ukraine, and Syria to follow 3 children as they navigate through the largest refugee crisis since World War II. In 'The Displaced', viewers are able to witness these children’s lives through their own eyes in 360 degrees, their homes, families and daily activities, a fully immersive way to experience their everyday reality.

By 2015, more than 60 million people worldwide have been driven from their homes by war and persecution, roughly half of whom are children. For the launch of the NYTVR app, The New York Times premiered “The Displaced” at a mass demo this last November in New York. The following Sunday, over 1 million subscribers received complimentary New York Times branded Google Cardboards with their Sunday paper, giving them the opportunity to empathize and experience the devastation of the refugee crisis firsthand - an idea considered unattainable in journalism until the advent of VR.

With “The Displaced” millions of people both young and old were not only exposed to their first VR film, but through this timely convergence of technology and journalism lent an entirely new perspective to what has already become one of the pivotal events of this century. Thousands shared the experience on social media with the hashtag “#NYTVR” and media outlets worldwide praised the film and its creators, declaring VR’s arrival into the mainstream. Within the first three days of its release, the NYTVR app had been downloaded more times than any other app in the publication’s history. Less than six months later, the New York Times has now made VR a priority, changing the way we get our news for years to come.