Blippar makes no-code AR creation tool free for everyone

U.K.-based AR platform provider Blippar is taking down the paywall for its Blippbuilder no-code AR creation tool: Blippbuilder will be free to use for both commercial and non-commercial projects going forward, the company exclusively told me this week.

That’s great news for agencies, enterprise clients and really anyone looking to quickly build a lightweight web-based AR experience without incurring commercial licensing fees. It’s also a sign of AR maturing, with commercial clients increasingly looking for more complex experiences that go beyond simple face filters.

Blippbuilder offers creatives a simple drag-and-drop AR editor as well as access to an existing asset library to create AR experiences. Experiences can be pushed out to the web, with Blippar taking care of the hosting.

• Blipbuilder has been free for non-commercial use for some time, leading to more than 250,000 developers signing up for the platform, according to Blippar.
• However, while toying with DIY projects was free, commercial clients had to pay up to $1,500 per month, plus additional usage-based fees for popular content.
• Going forward, those monthly fees as well as any usage-based pricing are going away.
• “Our aim has always been to enable everyone to create unique and engaging AR content and experiences,” said Blippar CEO Faisal Galaria. “In making Blippbuilder free, we invite the entire world to play, create and share what they have built.”

Galaria joined Blippar in 2019, when the company emerged from bankruptcy. Prior to that, Blippar had been an AR pioneer, one of the U.K.’s first unicorn startups and a cautionary tale of being too early in the hype cycle of an emerging technology.

• Galaria told me during a recent conversation that he first heard of Blippar when he worked at Spotify, which used the startup’s QR-code technology to kickstart its early growth.
• In 2019, Galaria and his team decided to change Blippar from a company that had been creating thousands of AR experiences for brands into a SaaS platform for AR creation.
• One of the pillars for this approach has been Blippbuilder as a lightweight, no-code AR creation platform.
• The other part is the company’s WebAR SDK, which is a more complete solution for enterprise clients and brands that want to build complex AR experiences.
• “Depending on where you are and what you're trying to build, we've got a solution for you,” Galaria said.

AR is changing, and so are the demands of clients. When brands first discovered phone-based AR, they were just looking for funny filters, or maybe an app that allows people to put a hologram into their living room.

• Now, many of those lower-end use cases are being served by social media apps like Snapchat and Instagram, and Blippar’s clients are asking for more.
• “It’s no longer enough to do something fun and frivolous, there actually needs to be some purpose,” Galaria said.
• One example: Blippar built an AR tool for Google that helps the company train third-party retail staffers to sell Fitbits.
• “The budgets are going from innovation budgets into proper marketing budgets,” Galaria said. “The complexity of projects is [increasing], and the requirements for reporting and ROI become more serious as well.”

In this new world, a no-code tool can be an easy on-ramp. By making Blippbuilder free, Blippar hopes to empower more companies to explore AR. Then, the company wants to use it as a funnel to upsell clients interested in more complex projects to its WebAR SDK.

• At the same time, the company touts Blippbuilder as a better solution for companies that don’t want to be beholden to Snap or Meta and their AR tools. “Compared to some of the social media platforms, the difference between ours and theirs is that we allow the creator to publish everywhere,” Galaria said.
• Ultimately, enabling more people and companies to create AR will also help the industry if and when consumer-ready AR glasses finally arrive.
• “Whatever type of AR hardware it is, glasses or phones or anything else, it’s going to need a really wide and vibrant ecosystem of content,” Galaria said.

— Janko Roettgers

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Making moves in streaming

Disney raises Disney+ fee by $3. Disney is getting ready to introduce an ad-supported Disney+ plan in December and will use that occasion to significantly raise the price of its existing ad-free subscription tier. Subscribers will have to pay $10.99 per month to watch Disney+ without ads going forward, with the ad-supported tier costing $7.99 per month. The company made the announcement as part of its fiscal Q3 2022 earnings report Wednesday, in which it also revealed it was able to add 14.4 million new Disney+ subscribers in its most recent quarter. Altogether, Disney now has 221.1 million streaming subscribers across its Disney+, Star, Hulu and ESPN+ subscription services.

Fox wants to turn Tubi into a billion-dollar business. Fox executives continue to be bullish about Tubi, the company’s free, ad-supported streaming service. Tubi’s user base grew 34% last quarter, according to Fox CEO Lachlan Murdoch, with revenue growing 45% over the past 12 months. “We will continue to invest judiciously in Tubi with our sights set on achieving $1 billion in revenue run rates in the next couple of years,” Murdoch said according to Media Play News. Fox acquired Tubi for $440 million in 2020.

Plex is trying to make TV more social. The media center app maker is adding an activity feed to its service. As part of a beta test, Plex server owners can opt in to share their watch history, ratings and watchlist activity with their friends. The ultimate goal is to help people find more content they like, according to Plex’s chief product officer Scott Olechowski, who gave me a tour of the new feature recently, and explained why the company isn’t looking to add social networking features for social networking’s sake. “It's really designed to solve a problem, not just to consume your time,” Olechowski said.

— Janko Roettgers

In other news

What the frog: Lionsgate uses AI to get rid of the F-word. The film studio used deepfake technology to get rid of a couple dozen swearing incidents in its new action thriller “Fall.”

A Nielsen buyout looks more likely after major shareholder signals support. WindAcre Partnership, which owns a 27% stake in the TV measurement company, is in talks with Elliott Management about joining its takeover bid.

Electronic Arts locks down its NFL licensing. EA on Wednesday struck an exclusive, multiyear partnership with the NFL for football-related esports. After breaking up with FIFA, the sports game publisher needed a licensing win.

TiVo-powered smart TVs could arrive in 2023. TiVo owner Xperi says it has signed up a TV maker to launch its new operating system on TV sets next year.

Nintendo faces another labor complaint. A contractor has filed a complaint with the NLRB over unfair labor practices at Nintendo and its North American contracting firm Aston Carter, Axios reported Wednesday. This is the second such complaint since April.

Walmart wants to bundle a streaming service. The retailer is reportedly in talks with multiple media companies about bundling a service with its Walmart+ membership program; any deal would likely resemble agreements with telcos that have been providing streaming services to their subscribers for free.

AppLovin gives Unity an ultimatum. AppLovin, an analytics and monetization firm widely used by mobile game firms, put in a bid to buy Unity on Tuesday. But it’s complicated by Unity’s existing agreement to acquire ironSource, an AppLovin competitor. Terminating that deal would cost about $150 million.

Google wants to bring fitness tracking to smart TVs. The company will closely integrate its Wear OS and Fitbit fitness trackers with its Google TV and Android TV platforms, it told TV makers behind closed doors last month.

The lawyers have arrived in the metaverse

You know what they say: It’s all fun and games until the lawyers get involved. Apparently, for the metaverse, that moment of reckoning has already arrived, at least if we can believe a new ad for injury law firm Morgan & Morgan. “As millions flock to the metaverse, many experience unnecessary pain and suffering,” an avatar of company founder John Morgan claims in the clip, before promising help with the results of virtual car crashes and on-the-job injuries. We all know where this ends: Virtual microwaves, warning you not to use them to warm up your virtual pets. We’ll all get the metaverse we deserve, I guess.

— Janko Roettgers

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