The success of Pokémon Go in Hong Kong has proved how far-reaching and easily accessible AR technology can be in the local market. Parks and trams are packed with “trainers” who often stay late into the night when these locations are usually empty. For a casual gamer, AR has provided an opportunity to use his or her phone for gaming entertainment instead of investing in a game console or headset. For marketers, the underlying business opportunities can possibly become the next segment of influencer marketing which retail companies would integrate into marketing plans. For example, consumer brands or adverts could be inserted into the VR environment in a form of product placement.

Adobe Helps Marketers to Unlock New Opportunities from the New Screens

Even though smartphones have been around for almost ten years, not all marketers have fully adopted mobile technologies. Today, we are again in a world filled with new terms and ideas where marketers must be wellprepared and act quickly to catch them ahead of others.

The recently updated Adobe Marketing Cloud may be a good solution. Its Ad-driven monetization and Content Protection within Adobe Primetime are new features aiming at the growing needs of easily creating VR and AR oriented branding experiences for marketers. With the help of Adobe Marketing Cloud, brands can also utilize Adobe Analytics, which allows close measurement of user activity and the ability to produce actionable insights. Marketers can ensure they meet user expectations and deliver an experience which is personalized to individual tastes. 

The Three monetization Models of AR/VR

There are three Ad-driven monetization models for the marketers to choose from. The first model is sponsored playback. In this model, viewers are brought into the front row at a live broadcast (such as a sponsored concert). Branding can be integrated into the physical environment in the form of physical objects and dynamic signage.

The second one is traditional ad insertion. This includes existing formats such as pre-roll, mid-roll and post-roll, where 360 and virtual cinemas can support a combination of traditional 2D and 360 ad creative. Integration with Adobe Analytics will enable a better understanding from viewer’s reactions to contents via gaze-tracking support.

Complex ad insertion is the third model, where brands can insert or replace objects within the VR environment, such as soft drinks in a virtual cinema or physical displays within a sports stadium environment. This scenario also enables targeted advertising. For instance, if analytics show that the viewer is looking to buy a car, this auto can be inserted into the environment. When the potential car model is selected, the viewer would be transported into the interior and can watch sponsored content. Advertisers could then be charged based on the level of engagement.

For Content Protection, Adobe Primetime supports playback of DRM-protected content (using Adobe Access) for both Virtual Cinema and 180/360 VR video scenarios. Diverse business models such as rental and subscription are enabled via Adobe’s industry-standard content protection and rich rights expression, which also satisfies the licensing requirements of content owners.

In addition, Adobe has also announced updates recently in Adobe Creative Cloud which supports content providers across the entire spectrum from ideation to production and post-production, all the way through to delivery, playback, protection, monetization and measurement. Premiere Pro CC will add new powerful support for VR Video workflows, which includes a “field of view” model for spherical stitched media.