Odyssées virtuelles, heading for 2035 with the France Télévisions advertising agency

Imagining the Possibilities

"What if we imagined the media and advertising universe in the metaverse?" This is the starting point of a comprehensive reflection on innovative and creative possibilities to be implemented in a virtual universe. This led to the creation of a web series, the first two episodes of which you can discover below.

France Télévisions internal advertising agency envisions the future of immersive worlds in 2035. In the form of a vlog, Rvé and Kiria, two avatars, transport you into the metaverse to discover the innovations that may shape our future experiences. It's a colorful and forward-looking journey where viewers can recognize familiar figures from France Télévisions, starting with Samuel Etienne in this first episode. Behind this playful escapade lies a genuine intention to educate and explain, allowing advertisers to envision future territories and consider new formats. The first episode revisits the years between 2020 and 2035, highlighting both successes and failures in the development of metaverse usage.

For France Télévisions Advertising Agency, anticipating tomorrow's trends is essential. As a new realm for expression, social connection, and brand innovation, immersive experiences allow us to bring our content into the lives of the new generations, nurturing their attention, fostering interaction, and engaging in dialogue. As a public service advertising agency, it is our duty to educate about these new usages. This web series has the primary goal of enlightening our partners about the roles they will play tomorrow, by our side, because the world is changing, and so is advertising.

Marianne Siproudhis, CEO of France Télévisions Advertising Agency

The reflection conducted by France Télévisions Advertising Agency has also led to strong convictions regarding their perception of the future of their expertise. You can discover their approach and convictions through the publication of a manifesto.

An Innovation in Itself 

The production process of the Virtual Odysseys episodes is an innovation in itself and a first for a French advertising agency. Produced by Ante Bellum Films, the videos were "shot" entirely using the VRChat platform in just two days. There was no traditional video capture equipment in the studio! The scenes of Virtual Odysseys come to life through pre-designed environments and avatars, and the actual filming takes place directly in this virtual world.

However, this program is not entirely computer-generated, as the actors' movements and voices, captured through motion-capture suits, bring the avatars to life. Every gesture is faithfully reproduced by their avatars, from grand exaggerated arm movements to subtle sideways glances.

With this series of videos, we engage in an exercise of imagination about the future of immersive worlds by projecting ourselves into the year 2035, where these virtual worlds increasingly become part of people's daily lives. Using science fiction tools to help professionals envision the future and question our own future is already an innovative approach. However, what sets this series apart is that it is entirely filmed in VRChat, an online virtual world platform already used by France Télévisions for Roland-Garros or Stade 2. While primarily a social platform, VRChat has gradually developed video production tools that have pushed us to imagine a true virtual shoot. The actors are in a studio, equipped with virtual reality headsets and trackers, while the camera is inside VRChat, filming them live as their avatars in virtual settings where they can freely move around. We were also able to involve extras without needing them to come to the set, as they were community members connected from their homes in VRChat. With the help of France Télévisions Innovation and the ItametisXR team, we were able to create multiple scenes and settings during the two days of shooting, and it was fascinating to see how easily we could apply our experience in traditional filming to this unprecedented setup, to the best of our knowledge.

Arthur Jeanroy & Damien Babikian, directors at Ante Bellum Films

A Virtual Reality Already Very Real 

The proliferation and, above all, the popularity of these platforms have been strongly supported by the two years of global pandemic that we have collectively experienced. While the outside world was off-limits to us, we learned to live in a dematerialized world. These new uses were not limited to the essential aspects; they extended to all aspects of everyday life, even if only for a portion of the population (remote work, online museum visits, artistic co-creation, etc.). As a result, members of Gen Z spend an average of more than a quarter of their time in virtual worlds*,

with over half of them feeling more comfortable navigating the world with their avatars than with themselves*. Millennials and Gen Z both claim to be gamers, with approximately 95% of them identifying as such*. Industrial players, whether in culture or commerce, have already experienced initial initiatives that have achieved considerable success, far from being mere anecdotes. There is undoubtedly a massive phenomenon at play here, a wave that is no longer at the depths, and above all, a significant challenge for the public service to respond to and align with these usage patterns.

In a changing world, with the continuous emergence of new platforms, new uses, and new formats, France Télévisions' Innovation Department positions itself as a trend detector and contributes to understanding through concrete tests to imagine the media of tomorrow, together with all the departments of France Télévisions. Faced with increasingly creative younger generations who no longer settle for the simple role of spectators, immersive technologies enhanced by generative artificial intelligence offer a means to engage our audiences, who are now co-creators, even actors in our content, while still upholding our public service values. Anticipating new uses to remain relevant tomorrow to all audiences is the very essence of our exploration of these virtual universes.

Kati Bremme, Director of Innovation at France Télévisions and Editor-in-Chief of Méta-Media

If these new uses interest you, discover the trend report dedicated to the metavers, available for free on Méta-Media.