In 2021 Facebook rebranded to Meta, sparking a lot of questions—but mostly “What *IS* the metaverse?” We set out on a journey to find the answers.
Our biggest challenge was how to explain the third dimension of the internet, that doesn’t fully exist…yet. Inspired by the common question asked from the backseat of a road trip, “Are We There Yet?” is the name of our content series that aims to uncover where the metaverse stands now and what’s coming in the future. It’s half talk show. Half road trip. Explaining all metaverse—in a way that everyone can understand.
We needed a relatable narrator to ask the questions that were on everyone’s mind, so we teamed up with the Big Boss herself—Keke Palmer. Then we built an entire set to take our audience on a journey through the virtual world in our “Meta Car” with Keke Palmer as our host in the driver's seat. Riding shotgun were the most interesting experts, creators, and educators sharing how they are making this new world a reality through AR, VR, MR and more.
The series aimed to break down big topics in a way everyone could understand—like when our expert Don Allen explained AR as the digital overlay you see on screen when watching a baseball game. We also showed people how the things they already love come to life in the metaverse, from sports to music and beyond.
We launched our series on YouTube, Roku, Disney+, Hulu and across social—tying our episodes to cultural moments. During our episode on music, VR Concert Creator Brenda Chen and Keke Palmer go to Kim Petras’ virtual concert days before she performed at the Grammys—and won! Then we launched our episode with former football pro Andrew “Hawk” Hawkins days before the Big Game.
People's understanding of the metaverse rose while we opened up new ways for people to ask more questions on social, using the question sticker on Instagram and doing expert takeovers on our channels. We even teamed up with our creators to develop tutorials that helped people dip their toe into the virtual world. Then we put the tech right in their hands with live demos during Art Basel.
So far, people have streamed over 25 million minutes of “Are We There Yet?”. To break it down, that’s over 47 YEARS of content. “Are We There Yet?” was one of the most successful Meta brand programs of 2022 in driving Meta Quest Sales, contributing to over 64,000 new Meta Quest signups last year.
From W Magazine to Entertainment Tonight, momentum picked up around the metaverse—totalling billions of impressions. But now people have the answers they’ve been searching for. By November 2022, metaverse familiarity had risen to over 42% in the US.
“Are We There Yet?” continues to be a go-to source on the metaverse. Even if we’re not quite there…yet.
