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doublevr
A little late to the conversation, but jumping in to throw in my 2 cents.
I got a lifetime SLR membership about a year back, and no regrets. At the current 800$ price for the full bundle, it's a bargain taking into account what I get.
It also has not gone unnoticed from recent threads that SLR staff take pride in making sure they 'do right by their lifetime members.' When you look at the overall offering, direction of the company, and the staff's appreciation for lifetime subscribers, it's a no-brainer.
Now, my take on the original prompt above.... SLR today looks very different from the SLR we had in 2023. And there is a mixed bag here.
Strengths
Platform Tech. The SLR platform is unmatched on the tech side. No other studio offers the integrated offering that SLR has. Over the past year, we've seen SLR roll out the AI scripts, multi-axis, PT, and AI PT. With SLR drive and Miles High Club on the way.
Platform Usability. Similarly, no other competitor comes close to the seamless playback that SLR offers, with turkey functionality for scripts.
Community engagement from SLR Devs on the forums, as well as a direct line of feedback/engagement with content products.
Opportunities
Content Library. Some studios left, but other new ones joined. Even with the major studios that left though, the overall content library remains huge, higher than any other site.
However, the rapidly evolving nature of VR tech is a headwind here. Content becomes obsolete fast. While I realize there are different perspectives on this, personally, I only really want to see content shot with the latest equipment and the best lenses. Content more than 1-2 years old, or from studios that use sub-par equipment, just isn't as compelling.SLRO production. No need to beat a dead horse on this one. SLR has already acknowledged this and is working on it.
What I do want to add here.... It is really really important to establish a healthy in-house pipeline of content. As you stated, @doublevr , your focus is mostly on the platform side. However, even if you build a strong platform, it's not necessarily a recipe for success.
We've seen this play out with Netflix and the streaming wars. Content providers pulled out and silo'd their content. Which is why we see Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, Apple, all bankrolling exclusive content. We're seeing the same phenomenon here with studios leaving and big content producers (vrbangers, czechvr,...) steering clear of the SLR platform.
As you noted, the drop in SLRO content did not affect new user numbers. But I suspect in time, it will affect retention (as we saw with Netflix).
I don't want to give critical feedback, without also offering ideas for potential solutions. As you noted, there is a shortage of directors. Unfortunately specialized talent shortage doesn't typically fix itself, and requires a dedicated strategy. Consider the following:
a. In-house growth path. Can you build a training or mentorship path to offer to interested existing employees to grow toward and transition to a director role? Amazon is known to employ this with distribution center workers, offering training opportunities to get into high tech development roles.
b. White glove partnerships (ie 2nd party content) . While not exactly an SLRO boosting strategy, this may help improve the quality of content. We've seen this methodology used in tech companies to prime app stores with content. The idea here is to have an employee work hand in hand (ideally onsite) with a content producer to help them get the most of the SLR platform. From getting video optimized for the SLR platform, learning to use SLR analytics, but even camera setup and techniques.
c. Break the problem down further. I am not quite sure I fully understand why exactly directors are so hard to find? Why is it such a specialized role? The project management skills will be common to other roles. Is it the technical side? Understanding of the lighting/ operation of 3d cameras? Can we identify what the blockers are? If this can be refined and understood, it may be possible in the long term to generalize the role by filling the gaps via processes and tooling.Marketing. I think I commented about this a while back - SLR has a marketing problem. But I have some more thoughts on this now that I want to expand on. First of all, I'm glad to hear you are looking to re-vamp your community outreach. SLR does not have good name recognition, that needs to be fixed for the platform to grow.
This is important because if the user count grows, SLR's leverage as a platform also grows, and it will become a lot easier to solve the content problem.
Here are a few ideas and things to consider with respect to this:
a. There is a lot of opportunity to convert 2D adult users to VR users. Since SLR is currently the front-running platform among it's competition, a perspective new adult-vr user will likely choose SLR. Consider running ads on 2d adult sites like pornhub.
b. Make it easy to see the best SLR has to offer. A new user is going to want to see what you can offer before giving you a credit card. They will poke around on your site and look at the 'Free' section, which is out of date. I would suggest putting up at least two recent full length videos (1 PT and 1 VR), each with scripts. And update these yearly. (similar to what CzechVR does). Give perspective buyers a free sample of the very best content and capabilities you can offer, and it's going to sell itself.
c. Make it easy for perspective subscribers to get their foot in the door. Offer a 'free' trial. 14 day streaming-only trial for only 1$.
