• by Jess Nelson , May 23, 2016

Adobe is banking on the growth of virtual reality (VR), expanding both Adobe Primetime and Adobe Marketing Cloud with virtual reality and augmented reality (AR) support.

Both Adobe platforms can now support digital rights management (DRM), ad insertion and playback for virtual and augmented reality videos. Adobe Creative Cloud previously announced VR support in April, meaning that Adobe now offers end-to-end VR and AR product support.

Virtual reality and augmented reality differ by the degree of real-life pictures used in the creation of the experience. Augmented reality developers can include a blending of real-life and virtual images, allowing consumers to interact with the two and distinguish virtual from real life. Virtual reality leaves the real world behind and immerses the consumer into a completely virtual world and experience.

Adobe currently only supports virtual reality viewing on Samsung Gear and Google Cardboard devices, but has announced intentions to soon support both Oculus Rift and HTC Vive as well.

Additional features include compatibility with Adobe Analytics to measure user engagement with virtual content. Adobe also supports both cinema virtual environments, such as traditional television or film clips, and immersive 360-degree experiences.

Virtual reality hardware is predicted to reach $2 billion in sales by the end of the year, according to a recent IDC forecast. The market intelligence company asserts that total unit sales will hover below 10 million in 2016, but are expected to jump past 110 million units in 2020. 

As VR becomes more widely accepted, as the technology improves and as the hardware becomes more affordable, I suspect we’ll see more and more marketing in that realm,” says Paul Parreira, CEO of marketing provider Company Cue.

Parreira says that the growth of video in marketing acts as a predecessor to virtual immersive experiences, and predicts that VR will be popular among marketers, publishers, Hollywood and live events, such as music concerts or athletic competitions.

“Video bleeds into VR, it’s that simple,” he says.