Introduction to VR ad network

Virtual reality is changing the way companies advertise, connect with customers,tell their stories resulting in creative and engaging content that viewers actually want to pay attention to. These ads have taken the form of 360-degree videos which can be viewed through a VR headset on any device.

Benefits of VR ads

Banner ads and auto-playing videos are now becoming things of past. Users are increasingly considering them to be intrusive. User engagement with these types of ads are slowly decreasing. 54% of ad impressions go unseen draining advertising budgets. 0.06% is the average click-through rate of display advertisements (all formats and placements combined). Virtual reality comes in handy where traditional advertising fails to leave its mark. Since VR brings an immersive experience, consumers are more likely to remember the brand and spread the world.

Why you should use VR ads

Virtual reality is an evolving technology hence many companies are reluctant towards using it in their marketing. By being early adopters of virtual reality, a company can easily come out as a leader and innovator in its respective industry.

13.5% of the world population consists of early adopters of a technology. This is the audience that makes an effort to experience innovative technologies. A VR marketing campaign directly appeals to the audience of early adopters and thus gains traction with comparatively less media effort. Gradual usability improvement and a decrease in hardware price will boost VR adoption by the audience. The VR advertising market is expected to be worth $3 billion by 2020.

How to choose the best VR ad network

While choosing the right VR ad Network the following points need to be kept in mind

• Large inventory of publishers
• Strong Portfolio
• User friendly to use
• Transparent analytics and reporting system
• Wide number of supported ad formats
• Good Customer Service
• Competitive Pricing

10+ Best VR ad network

Minivirt

Omnivert is a premium VR advertising platform founded in 2016 by Brad Phaisan and Michael Rucker. It is promising to help publishers and advertisers tap into the potential of virtual reality.

And while ads are the starting point, OmniVirt is also starting to work with publishers to support 360-degree editorial content as well.

Features:

• 360º Immersive Ads
• Stereoscopic 360º VR Ads
• Real-Time Earnings
• Adaptive streaming of interactive videos of all formats.

Pros:

• They have their own VR player with a dynamic API
• Easy to integrate and create ads.
• 100% Fill Rate
• High CPMs

Cons:

• Their APIs are often buggy and the developer support is slow

Chymera VR

Chymera VR provides an advertising and monetization network for mobile virtual reality founded in 2015 by Smeet Bhatt and Sushil Kumar.

Features:

• Can serve 360 ads on Daydream and Gear VR.
• Analytics functionality for better understanding key metrics in ad campaigns and optimise them for immersive product discovery experience.
• Offers cross-promotion across VR platforms to increase views and higher retention.

Pros:

• inbuilt ad server network access using their SDKs
• 60% higher click-through rates (CTR) and 200% higher CPMs

Cons:

• Software still not refined
• Not all VR Platforms are supported

Adlooker

Adlooker is an immersive ad marketplace which brings publishers and advertisers together. It was founded in March 2017 in Yerevan by Ilarion Bekchyan and Arman Atoyan.

Features:

• Support for multiple ad types
• Platform is based on blockchain technology
• Effective Audience targeting tools
• Monthly payout
• Ad budget planning assistance

Pros:

• Pay & accept payments with Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and other popular altcoins, in addition to fiat currencies
• Simple & easy to use SDKs
• Real-time reporting
• Premium Customer Support
• 100% Fill rate

Cons:

• Minimum payment amount of $100
• Rigorous screening process
• No support for Retargeting, behavioural or contextual targeting

VirtualSKY

VirtualSKY is the first platform of its kind enabling Virtual Reality developers to place 10-30 second interstitial ad experiences at natural breaks in their content. It is a part of Airpush Global network with more than 450 million users.

Features:

• Engulf users with 720 degrees of sight and sound.
• Advertisers have access to world-class virtual reality design services.
• Multi format VR Ads
• Over 6 billion monthly impressions from 150000+ integrations

Pros:

• Incredibly fast, pre-cached streaming of experiences that nearly eliminates load times and skipping.
• Supports most of the leading VR platforms
• High Quality Content
• Demo app testing

Cons:

• Time limits in different ad formats

Flo VR

It is a virtual reality advertising platform. The company was founded in 2007 and headquartered in Toronto, Canada. Flo Digital Inc. operates as a subsidiary of Flow Media Interactive.

Features:

• Makes 360 content viewable within any browser, VR platform, or mobile device.
• Whole suite of different VR ad formats to choose from.
• New VR product sampling ad format.
• Self Serve Flo 360 VR Ad Wizard
• State of the Art Artificial Intelligence

Pros:

• Zero Latency 360 video playback
• Cross Platform Compatibility
• Heat Mapping and Head Tracking Built In Analytics
• Simple for developers to integrate with the Flo 360 Ad Server with few lines of code (FLO SDK).

Cons:

• Prices are on the higher side
• Onboarding process takes time
• Not particularly user friendly

Admix

Admix is the first programmatic monetisation platform for VR.Founded in 2017 by Joe Bachle-Morris, Mark Rich and Samuel Huber. They enable non-intrusive, programmatic product placements within their content.

Features:

• Admix platform works with Real Time Bidding
• Estimates potential monthly net advertising revenue.
• Beautiful reports and analytics
• Automatic payments, every month
• Filter relevant advertisers
• All your apps, in one place
• Good Portfolio

Pros:

• Instant selling of inventories
• Free Unity plug-in
• Comparatively high payouts
• Easy to Install
• Non-intrusive
• Great UI

Cons:

• Only unity plug-in

Ctalyst (https://ctalyst.com/vr-ads-virtual-reality-advertising/)

It specializes in entertainment and interactive technology development for globally connected devices founded by Tom Raycove. They focus on leading edge visual design, user interface development, database modelling cognitive computing, artificial intelligence, backend/frontend application frameworks for motion pictures, television and video games.

Features:

• Support for all leading game engines
• Interactive, Live, Dynamic, Real-Time & Product Placements
• Advanced Analytics
• Guaranteed ad spaces will always be filled
• Existing ad networks can be kept alongside to minimize risks

Pros

• Seamlessly integrates with the VR environment.
• No interruption in game play
• Simple and easy to use API
• Dozens of Free 3d Models for Product Placements

Cons

• Could have been more user-friendly
• Portfolio not convincing as on date

AdlnMo

AdInMo was founded in 2017 by Kristan Rivers and Mike Panoff. It is a platform connecting brands with F2P mobile game developers wishing to monetize their products in ways other than traditional 30 second interstitial ads.

Features:

• In-Game Advertising Revenue Calculator
• Provides real-time reporting to developers.

Pros

• No coding required in integration.
• Near perfect AdInMo SDK
• Highest eCPMs
• No change in game flow.

Cons

• Limited only to games
• Poor customer service
• Not a noteworthy portfolio yet

Stereosense

Stereosense is a publishing and content management system specializing in Virtual Reality experiences, enabling content creators and brands to publish VR apps without much coding. It is founded by Stefan Rasch, Vlad Gozman in september 2016.

Features:

• HTML5 PLAYER with flexible web technology.
• Monoscopic and stereoscopic 360° content
• Support for Mobile, Desktop screens along with VR
• Views can seamlessly switch to VR content without leaving publisher’s website.
• Integrations with other Ad platforms

Pros:

• Can be integrated with just a few lines of code.
• Several customisation options.
• Automatically serves 360° content as standard ad banners on desktops & mobiles

Cons

• Only supports equirectangular-panoramic file format
• Platform is buggy

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