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Will You See Different On-Ice Hockey Ads Than Your Friend A Town Away?
By now, you've probably seen those on-ice rink ads or those backboard sponsorships behind home plate on many hockey and baseball telecasts. They're annoying but otherwise harmless.
But now there's a chance what you're looking at and a friend in another city might see would be two different ads - in the exact same spot at the exact same time.
Companies called Supponor and TBS (not the Atlanta station) have come up with a way to show audiences watching the same feed different billboards on ice during hockey games, making it possible to not only localize ads, but sell more of them on a market-by-market basis. That means you might see something for a Toronto business watching the Leafs play, while a friend in Kitchener eyeing the same feed would discover a come-on for one of their own local stores or services.
The explanation reads like something from a dry textbook, but it fills in the blanks.
"Supponor’s long term partnership with the NHL has seen its Digitally Enhanced Dasherboards (DED) system integrated into the live broadcast feed to enable the real-time replacement of camera-visible arena advertising boards and placement of dynamic on-ice assets. DED graphics can be displayed during games in a market-specific way, wherever and however the game feed is broadcast, resulting in high-impact and targeted branding and promotional messaging, not previously achievable."
It's an interesting technology, but it also makes me long for the days when a hockey rink - and some player uniforms, depending on the sport - were pristine. Those days are long gone.
Supponor, TBS bring virtual advertising to the sports world
- RadioAaron
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Re: Will You See Different On-Ice Hockey Ads Than Your Friend A Town Away?
These have been active most of this season. Aside from seeing them change while Camera 1 is active, you'd never know they're virtual.
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Re: Will You See Different On-Ice Hockey Ads Than Your Friend A Town Away?
I'm not a hockey watcher, so I haven't seen them but I wonder how many viewers are aware others are seeing, as Monty Python might say, something completely different.
You have to wonder how long until it spreads to MLB, the NFL and others. Being able to sell the same space multiple times in multiple markets during the same broadcast could bring in a ton of money.
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Thread Starter- RadioAaron
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Re: Will You See Different On-Ice Hockey Ads Than Your Friend A Town Away?
A quick channel flip I did between CBC Toronto and ESPN.
Last edited by RadioAaron (April 18, 2023 7:58 pm)
- Radiowiz
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Global TV did this YEARS ago with an American reality TV show once.
It involved a Taxi to pick up the person that was voted off at the end of the program.
Instead of seeing the American ad on the top of the taxi, an ad for Casino Niagara would appear.
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- MJ Vancouver
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Re: Will You See Different On-Ice Hockey Ads Than Your Friend A Town Away?
Radiowiz wrote:
Global TV did this YEARS ago with an American reality TV show once.
It involved a Taxi to pick up the person that was voted off at the end of the program.
Instead of seeing the American ad on the top of the taxi, an ad for Casino Niagara would appear.
Global did this with NFL football games 20 years ago as well. There would be Canadian Tire ads in the Buffalo Bills stadium, or wherever the game was taking place.
- Tomas Barlow
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Re: Will You See Different On-Ice Hockey Ads Than Your Friend A Town Away?
The difference was those were pre-produced and played back between plays These are live.
- mace
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Re: Will You See Different On-Ice Hockey Ads Than Your Friend A Town Away?
When ice level camera shots are used, you see the actual ads on the boards that the fans at the arena see. Then you have the local ads on the glass behind the net that change depending on whether you are watching the home or visiting team telecast.
- I Used Carts
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I would think it would be easiest to do on CBC broadcasts (send "local" virtual ads to each station down the network). Sportsnet could (and I'm surprised they don't) show different adds on SN East/Ontario/West/Pacific, but unless they are able to send local versions to each cable system I would think the best they could do is more regionalized ads. Who knows what could be possible in the future via streaming & ip addresses?
I've noticed SN is able to run Canadian virtual ads on the ESPN/TNT feeds they pick up, so to me that is one less incentive for them to spend the money to produce the games themselves in future years - especially with 2 US teams.
- mace
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Re: Will You See Different On-Ice Hockey Ads Than Your Friend A Town Away?
There are now virtual ads on the ice just inside each teams blueline. I have seen ones for Rogers, Canadian Tire and Harveys.
- SpinningWheel
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Re: Will You See Different On-Ice Hockey Ads Than Your Friend A Town Away?
These have been active most of this season. Aside from seeing them change while Camera 1 is active, you'd never know they're virtual.
They were a little distracting at the beginning of the season until they got it together and it ran smoother. Having priced out board advertising in various Canadian NHL cities a decade ago and understanding the large sums of $$ involved, I wonder if existing "board" advertisers get a price break since their adverts on the boards are no longer being displayed all the time when on Camera 1? They pay a lot for that exposure, especially in Toronto versus the smaller market cities and I believe centre ice boards were the most costly in my experience.
Last edited by SpinningWheel (April 26, 2023 4:29 pm)