Tech startups that are investigating new technologies such as AR, or space as a whole, are enhancing ads.
According to a new report, tech startups that are branching into entirely new areas such as virtual and augmented reality, drones, and space, have been generating tremendous financing through investments since 2014 and are also contributing into far more creativity n the ad industry.
A recent report indicated that since last year, there have been $3.15 billion in 183 deals in these areas.
The report was on an analysis conducted by CB Insights and it was released on Friday. What it indicated was that the types of tech companies – including everything from augmented reality to satellites and space – are a considerable draw for investments and are revealing a notable shift in the way that imagers are created. This allows ads to be delivered in an entirely new way and style.
In this way, augmented reality and other tech are starting to have a spreading impact on many industries.
Since 2014, companies that are focused on AR and virtual reality have managed to raise $1 billion. This tech reached a peak of $623 million in all of last year. During the first quarter of this year, that figure dropped to $114 billion. However, brands have now started some serious experimentation. Discovery, for example, which is working with AR technology and with virtual reality, will bring about the very first videos meant specifically for this type of tech.
The main launch worth discussing in this area, at the moment, is Discovery VR, which will be the very first virtual reality network. This service is being designed to be able to test the boundaries and capabilities of this tech. The first videos debut Thursday and are posted on the DiscoveryVR.com website, as well as on Android and iPhone apps, and on YouTube.
Virtual and augmented reality startups that have a specific focus on commercial uses represented 40 percent of all of the funding that has been received in this category since 2012, said the report. Some of the largest brands in AR, Blippar and Augment, for example, are among the examples of the businesses within that sub-category that received some considerable funding within that time.
Static augmented reality may be a thing of the past
Augmented reality has managed to make its way into the mainstream, thanks largely to the support of tech-savvy consumers around the world. Typically, augmented reality comes as a feature in mobile applications. These applications often rely heavily on the sensors of mobile devices as well as a static dataset that paints digital content over the real world. Augmented reality itself is a very dynamic technology, thus the static nature of mobile applications may be hampering the technology’s capabilities.
Professors work to make innovative breakthroughs in technology
Professors Matthew Turk and Tobias Hollerer from the University of California – Santa Barbara, have been working to make augmented reality mobile applications much more dynamic. The professors envision a future for augmented reality where the technology is more stable, practical, and capable of higher levels of engagement with consumers. Turk and Hollerer have been research ways to incorporate real-time computer vision into augmented reality applications, which would allow these applications to become much more dynamic in their ability to overlay digital content onto the real world.
Augmented reality showing a stronger presence in mobile commerce
Augmented reality has become a very popular tool in entertainment and marketing. Even leashed by the static nature of most mobile applications, the technology has been able to provide consumers with a wide range of interactivity. Augmented reality has begun breaking away from its traditional fields recently, and entering that of mobile commerce. While mobile commerce often refers to the practice of making purchases with a mobile device, the term also encompasses mobile shopping. Augmented reality has been growing in popularity amongst mobile shoppers because of its capabilities of providing these consumers with context sensitive information on particular products.
Grants help fund ambitious research
Turk and Hollerer have recently been awarded two grants; one from the Office of Naval Research, and another from the National Science Foundation. These grants are helping fund the professors’ work in their so called “anywhere” augmented reality application. The concept strongly focuses on making augmented reality possible no matter where a person may be.
