Oculus hires Hulu exec to head video team
Hulu SVP Eugene Wei to oversee group that curates VR and 360 degree content from other creators, like LeBron James
As reported by Re/code, Oculus has hired Eugene Wei as its new head of video. The former Hulu SVP was most recently head of product at Flipboard and he spent seven years at Amazon in the '90s as well. Wei has been with Oculus since November but the role was only recently confirmed publicly by Oculus.
VR is expected to make a big splash in many industries, not just video games. Facebook has begun experimenting with 360 degree videos in its News Feed, which would probably translate well into a virtual reality environment. The company also intends to push some first-party content with its Oculus Story Studio.
Facebook and Oculus have not yet fully explained what the video team will be working on, but Wei is expected to be in charge of the platform at Oculus that houses VR and 360 degree content from other creators. For example, NBA all-star LeBron James partnered with Facebook on a 12-minute VR video that dives into his basketball training regimen.
As Re/code noted, "Oculus and virtual reality in general still feel like products for gamers. Bringing someone like James into the fold early should help drum up some more mainstream attention." And that, no doubt, will be Facebook's goal with VR video in general - to widen the appeal of VR and ultimately make it a social platform like Facebook itself.