Adobe takes the first steps to bring its Marketing Cloud into virtual reality

“Virtual cinema,” now supported in part of Adobe’s Marketing Cloud

Adobe’s Marketing Cloud sees the writing on the wall.

And the wall, it turns out, is built in virtual reality.

The tech giant has announced, for the first time, that it is supporting virtual reality media in its Marketing Cloud, initially in Primetime and Analytics.

Primetime, which provides tools for online video on demand, linear TV and multi-device playback, has recently become a fuller citizen of the Cloud.

It is now supporting several kinds of VR. There’s virtual cinema, where a viewer is virtually inside a venue and sees a performance or video on a stage or screen, like watching a concert performance in an arena.

There’s also 360-degree video, either recorded 360 as on Facebook, where you can look around an unchanging sphere as the action unfolds, or 360-degree VR video, where you’re actually inside a VR environment, with live interaction that can be different every time.

Those formats are generally presented in the lower-end viewers, either in a browser for 360-degree recorded video, or via Google Cardboard VR or Samsung Gear VR for the others. Adobe said it will also eventually support higher-end VR, like Oculus Rift and HTC Vive.

Several types of ads for VR are also coming to Primetime. One tool, which is still in beta, will allow brands to add physical objects or signage to virtual cinema, such as a “Drink Coke” sign inserted into a wall at a virtual concert.

Another kind will be pre-roll, mid-roll, and post-roll ads, either 2-D or 360-degree, in either virtual cinema or 360 video/360 VR video. And the company says it will offer the ability to add objects to live VR environments, like a Coke can sitting on a shelf or a brand’s automobile inserted into the scene, complete with an explorable interior. Adobe said it envisions that advertisers could be charged according to some unspecified level of user engagement.

Also new: Primetime is now supporting digital rights management, via Adobe Access, for virtual cinema and 360-degree video/360 VR video. And a new integration between Adobe Analytics and these new formats will also provide such metrics as viewer reaction and gaze-tracking.