Today in Amsterdam, we’re hosting our “Activeer Print” (Activate Print) seminar, which we invited members of the media and publishing industries to learn all about Layar and interactive print.

Our CEO, Quintin Schevernels shared some interesting new bits of data today with the audience in Amsterdam. We’ve been using Distimo Monitor to review our stats, and today we’ve got some exciting stats to share here on the blog as well.

Averaging 1M Downloads Each Month

Layar now averages roughly 1 million downloads of the Layar App for iPhone and Android each month. This is a significant leap from the first quarter of 2012, when Layar downloads averaged around 500k each month.

This increase in downloads parallels several new Interactive Print campaigns in recent months and the launch of the Layar Creator in June. More people are now downloading Layar to interact with their print products.

In our Layar whitepaper, released in May, we mentioned having just over 20 million total downloads all-time for Layar. Later this week, we will surpass 23 million downloads.

Layar Creator Takes Off!

It’s been just over a month since we launched the Layar Creator publicly, and so far we’ve been thrilled with the reception and usage.

To date, over 8,400 editors have started using the Creator, publishing over 4,500 campaigns of interactive print. That’s equal to roughly 125 new published campaigns every day.

Spreading Across the Globe

Traditionally, we’ve seen Layar’s popularity centralized around Europe. Our leading country, however, by a wide margin is the United States. The U.S. continually represents over 20% of Layar downloads. 1 of every 5 downloads is from the U.S.

It towers over any other country. In fact, the U.S. accounts for as many downloads as the combined total of the 2nd through 5th ranked countries - Germany, Spain, Italy and the Netherlands.

The majority of the remaining top countries, in terms of downloads, are in Europe, but recently we’ve seen new countries in new continents join the fray.

The biggest mover? It might be a surprise: Saudi Arabia. Just a few months ago, Saudi Arabia accounted for less than half of 1% of Layar’s total downloads. With just over 2,000 downloads in January, the Middle Eastern country has grown considerably to nearly 40,000 (over 4.5% of all downloads) in June.

Other countries on the rise include Brazil and Chile - our top South American countries. Each has increased its amount of downloads by 300% over the last six months, helping Brazil move among the top countries worldwide.

We feel this represents a globalization of Layar. It’s not just a European phenomenon anymore. Now, our top countries span the globe, across all continents. Check out the Layar Creator and get started with your campaign today!

One of the great things about interactive print is that it can bring an interesting experience to even the most basic tasks of life.

Take shopping for appliances, for example. We don’t have to do it that often, but when we do, it’s important to get all the right information. It’s like buying a car. Pelgrim, one of the largest sellers of kitchen appliances in the Netherlands, recently decided to make the experience of browsing their catalogue more engaging.

They’ve enhanced several pages of their 2012 catalogue with Layar to provide digital extras to customers. Scanning the pages (the one’s clearly marked with Layar icons) displays mostly YouTube videos of the products described. However, in certain spots you’ll find discount coupons for as much at 50% off. Not a bad deal, eh?

Take a quick tour of the Pelgrim catalogue below in our photo gallery. 

Last week we shared with you a video of our very own Claire Boonstra speaking and demoing the brand new Layar Creator at TEDxBinnenhof here in the Netherlands. Well, she’s not the only member of the Layar team with TED experience under her belt.

Back in April, fellow co-founder Maarten Lens-FitzGerald spoke at TEDxMaastricht, also here in the Netherlands. The event focused around “The Future of Health,” and Maarten shared a very personal story about his fight to overcome cancer and the lessons it taught him about sharing, the Internet and how augmented reality could play a role in the future of health.

Have a look at the full video of Maarten’s talk below.

We built in some really great stats into the Layar Creator which you can use to analyze your Creator campaigns. You can see views, clicks and users on the campaign, page and button level, and you can even export the data and play with it yourself.

Below is a short video that shows you all of the features found in Creator stats and how to use them. Have a look!