The New York Times rolled out its VR app last year and now the Big Apple's largest newspaper is sending another 300,000 Google Cardboard virtual reality headsets to digital subscribers. This year's promotion is in line with the release of the daily newspaper's new VR film about the dwarf planet Pluto.
The NYT's eighth virtual reality film is entitled "Seeking Pluto's Frigid Heart." It debuted this month at the Tribeca Film Festival and will be available for the VR app on May 19.
Mobile app users will have the chance to virtually fly over mountains and plains of the dwarf planet, or stand on its surface, according to Engadget. The virtual Pluto data was collected by NASA's New Horizons spacecraft in 2015.
NYT's new film is a joint project between the New York newspaper, the Lunary and Planetary Institute, and the Universities Space Research Association.
The Times will pick subscribers who get a free Cardboard unit based on how long they have received the newspaper. Thus, people who signed up for the newspaper today will have little chance to see the planet's moon Charon. However, a 360-degree video version will be available in May.
About one-third of the newspaper's digital subscriber base will get a Cardboard viewer, according to The Verge. That is based on figures the famous newspaper published last year.
Meanwhile, NYT's first shipment of Cardboard units was sent to home print subscribers. NYT senior editor Sam Dolnick explains that shipping the second batch will be more difficult because it was easier to bundle a headset with Sunday newspapers.
Dolnick shares that the company is in talks with companies that develop other VR platforms. The daily newspaper is moving in the direction of launching content on other VR headsets.
NYT reports that its NYT VR app has been downloaded 600,000 times. However, since non-VR viewing options are available the downloads do not convert to Cardboard use.
Other news outlets including ABC have also released short virtual reality videos. However, none of them including NYT have charged for the content. The new Pluto video is being offered gratis for iOS and Android devices, and through YouTube.
Here's the NYT VR video "Walking NEw York":