• by Gavin O'Malley , Staff Writer @mp_gavin, May 18, 2017

What’s the biggest barrier facing Facebook and other businesses investing in the virtual reality space?

It’s all about “trial,” says Ronjan Sikdar, Vice President of Media Analytics at Nielsen.

After people try out today’s VR technology, a clear majority say they want to make it part of their regular media diet, Sikdar told attendees at MediaPost’s IoT Marketing Forum, on Thursday.

In its research, Nielsen segments respondents into two categories PaVRs (Pavers), or those who are more likely to purchase VR within the next year and pave the way forward; and ConVRts (Converts), or those whose interest in the technology increases with new information, but aren’t likely to be among early adopters.

PaVRs represent roughly 24% of the U.S. 18-54 population, according to a Nielsen study conducted late last year.

Not surprisingly, these consumers tend to be younger and have higher-than-average incomes, making them a desirable audience for both publishers and advertisers, according to Sikdar.

Nielsen also found that that these consumers watch a five more television networks in a given month than the average consumer, spend 8% more time watching television, and spend 7% more time online.

PaVRs also outspend the average consumer in most purchase categories, including nearly twice as much on live event tickets (195%), quick-serve restaurants (179%) and alcoholic beverages (175%).

Meanwhile, ConVRts make up about 20% of the U.S. 18-54 population.