The latest report from electronics company Ericsson on the 10 Hot Consumer trends has been released, with insights based on Ericsson’s ConsumerLab global research, drawing on data gathered from online survey’s of internet users in 10 major cities across the world, representing 30 million people. The report contains some suggestions on how consumers believe virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) technology will evolve.
One of the biggest areas of impact in the report for VR and AR users and creators is the indication of how consumers feel about advertising in VR and AR. Advertising and marketing within immersive media, with just over a third of respondents saying they actively dislike ads, while 40% said they don’t mind them if it means they can get free products or services.
Many brands and companies are attempting to use VR and AR to extend their reach and engage with customers, creating sophisticated VR or AR experiences to help advertise their products. This has resulted in what some see a a slow merger of content with advertising.
The report indicates that this merger might be self-defeating, however. With an increasing number of VR and AR experiences offering the functions of the apps or services they are trying to advertise, such as a VR experience to advertise a holiday that is so immersive and realistic that you can feel as if you were there, removing the desire to buy the product. For this reason, over half of current AR and VR users who responded to the survey said they believed that adverts could eventually replace to products themselves.
Michael Björn, Head of Research, Ericsson ConsumerLab, says: “We are entering a future where devices neither have buttons and switches nor need to be controlled digitally via your smartphone. In fact, this may be a necessary change, as it would be difficult for people to learn a new user interface for every device that gets connected to the Internet of Things. Today, you have to know all the intricacies of the devices you use. But in the future, the devices will know you instead. For this to become a reality, devices must be able to relay complex human interaction data to cloud-based processing, and respond intuitively within milliseconds, increasing requirements on next generation connectivity.”
Further news on VR and AR industry trends will be right here on VRFocus.