It’s time to take another look at some of the greatest 360° videos published this year. So far, we have covered content ranging from the best games and apps for the Oculus Rift, the GearVR and the PlayStation VR, all the way to our favourite educational experiences for you to try out if you find yourself in an educational environment. We would like to expand our list of content with one more look at the videographers out there, and what they’ve been working on.

As well as frequently posting our top lists of the most viewed 360° videos (one of which went widely popular over the course of the summer back in 2016), today we would like to initiate the first instalment of our “Best of” series, and we’re keen on hearing from you in the comments section regarding our shortlist.

August 2019 Update: Our 2016 and 2019 versions are live! As we make our way through this year, we’ll build up a brand-new list. Keep an eye out!

With that little introduction out-of-the-way, let’s take a look at the top 10 best 360° videos of 2017:

National Geographic – Lions 360°

First up on today’s list is National Geographic, and their beautiful story of what it’s like to be young male lion. The film is made by National Geographic Explorer Matin Edström, and is clearly one of our favourites this year, due to its strong use of storytelling from start to finish. The story is quite simple – you’re face to face with the young lion Gibson and his mother, and their struggle with the pride’s alpha male. Embark on an immersive safari adventure, and make sure to crank up that video quality!

Brand: National Geographic

Platform: YouTube

Published on: Jun 19, 2017

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+Warner Bros – IT: A 360° Cinematic Experience

In case you haven’t been keeping a close eye on the horror scene these past six months, there’s a good chance you haven’t heard of the resurrection of the IT franchise. Lucky for you, we are here to tell you about a recent, awesome experience built by Warner Bros, as an introduction to the universe of Pennywise the Clown. The experience opens with a stormy weather that takes you down the pouring of Derry, and well – we won’t tell you the rest, you’ll have to strap on your cardboard and see for yourself! Definitely one of the most horrifying 360° videos out there!

Brand: Warner Bros

Platform: YouTube

Published on: Aug 15, 2017

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Vogue – Kendal Jenner’s Closet 360°

Statistically speaking, a large portion of our readers here at VR Today Magazine are San Fransisco-based tech enthusiasts, so if this next one is a bit out of your comfort zone, we do apologize. Next up is Kendal Jenner’s closet which has been invaded by a team of videographers from the Vogue team. There have been a vast number of brands and personalities embracing the use of 360° videos over the past year and surely, Kendall is doing her part to popularize the technology too. In fact, since the video was published on August 15th, and in the course of just 5 days, the video climbed to a whopping 3.2 million views. We’d be keeping this video alive on today’s list of best VR videos for the views alone.

Brand: Vogue

Platform: YouTube

Published on: Aug 15, 2017

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GoPro – For The Love of Lions

More lions in 360° videos! Have you ever wondered what it would like to wrap your arms around a fully grown lioness? Well, in this captivating video by GoPro we get to hitch a ride as Kevin Richardson (also, famously known as the Lion Whisperer) as he embarks on a journey with these elegant but powerful feline predators in a surprisingly heart-warming video that you will want to put on repeat and download to your Google Cardboard, Oculus Rift or whatever your VR rig of choice might be.

Brand: GoPro

Platform: YouTube

Published on: Aug 10, 2017

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New York Times – We Who Remain

The New York Times recently started doing daily 360° videos as part of a new initiative to help usher VR into the mainstream through innovative new journalism. In conjunction with twhe team over at Emblematic Group and Nuba Reports, the NYTVR created We Who Remain, which is an immersive VR documentary, bringing the reader straight into the beating heart of the war in Sudan. It may be the case that many existing 360° videos in the journalism category are of a disheartening character, but VR is, after all, an empathy machine.

Brand: New York Times

Platform: YouTube

Published on: Mar 16, 2017

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Warner Bros – LEGO Batman VR Experience

Warner Bros is one of those companies known for creating incredible stories for the big screen, and thanks to the wonders of VR, there’s no bigger screen than one that is wrapped around you in 360° Video. In this awesome experience, you get to chase down the Joker, Gotham City’s infamous villain by teaming up with Batman to save the city once and for all. Along the way on your journey, you get to witness just how capable Batman is as a lego super hero. Enjoy, as you take this high-end 360° video for a spin. Once again, a headset is mandatory to fully get a grasp of the quality here!

Brand: Warner Bros

Platform: YouTube

Published on: Apr 24, 2017

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BBC News – Fight Against ISIS In 360° Video

If there’s one area in which 360° video has been dominating since its launch, surely it’s journalism and the news. video is the world’s leading content type, and news coverage is constantly looking for new intriguing ways to engage with the public. In this particular video from the BBC, we are being transported straight into the heat of Mosul, where the pilots of the Iraqi army fight militants of the Islamic State. On-air to cover the fighting is Joe Inwood and Nafiseh Kohnavard. VR videos are capable of doing so much more than just video games and entertainment.

If you’re interested in learning more about VR journalism, please head over to our “10 Great Examples of VR in Journalism” article to see some of the most remarkable VR videos in today’s modern media.

Brand: BBC

Platform: YouTube

Published on: May 22, 2017

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Walt Disney – Duck Tales 360° Video

Walt Disney has been doing a few things with 360° video over the past few years, including publicly sharing the wonders the happiest place on earth, by inviting you into Disney World in inspiring 360° video. This particular video though, is nothing so fancy – it’s simply a short video snippet of an episode of Duck Tales, in all it’s cartoonish majesty. There’s so much action in this particular video though, that we highly recommend for you to strap on a pair of VR goggles before viewing. Panning to the left and right does seem a bit distracting with this amount of heavy animation.

Brand: Walt Disney

Platform: YouTube

Published on: Jul 29, 2017

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Red Bull – Cliffdiving World Content 360° Video

Let’s take a trip to Italy, and dive into an adrenaline-inducing video example from Red Bull’s Cliffdiving World Series, and realize just how powerful the immersive medium as a whole can be. If any kind of media can get your brain even remotely convinced that you are in a state of vertical freefall, surely it has the capabilities to do great things. In this video we get to feel the rush felt from bouncing off a 27m cliff, head first into the deep blue sea surrounding the Italian shoreline during an iconically warm European summer. Red Bull keep owning the 360° video space, and this latest instalment is no exception.

Brand: Red Bull

Platform: YouTube

Published on: Jul 21, 2017

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Star Wars – Rogue One 360° VR Experience

Star Wars – Rogue One by Nissan is arguably one of our favourite 360° videos this year, and is beyond a shadow of a doubt one of the most entertaining ones on today’s list . If you have ever been paying attention during the Super Bowls, the MTV Music Awards or similar annual, big-budget events you know that during the commercial breaks, car commercials come at it hard when it comes to the entertainment value of their airtime. One only has to look at what Buick did with Cam Newton to realize just how true that is. Nissan came out this year, with an immersive ad, packed to the brim with iconic sci-fi wonders from the Star Wars franchise. If you have any room in your heart for light sabers, droids or anything that might belong in a galaxy far, far away – this one is for you!

Update 2018: Unfortunately, this video was later taken down, so what we have instead, is a showcase of what the video looked like, back when it was available.



Brand: Nissan

Platform: YouTube

Published on: Apr 1, 2017

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Summary: 10+ Best 360° Videos of 2017

It’s been one hell of a year so far in regards to the wonderful implementations of 360° video technology across the board. 360° video is flocking to the main stream market. Channels, brands and companies dedicated to 360° video technology is popping up all over the internet, and each one of them doing their small part to help branch out, what began as a an ambitious aspiration by Palmer Luckey, all those years ago.