How The NHL Monetized Their 2016 World Cup Of Hockey Television Audience With Digital Ads
Screenshot showing Digital Enhanced Dasherboards with Gatorade advertisement.
The National Hockey League introduced many new technological features at the World Cup of Hockey 2016. In addition to player and puck tracking, the NHL utilized digitally enhanced dasherboards (DED). To do this, the NHL retained Supponor to create the augmented reality dasherboards. Through Supponor, the dasherboards feature digital ads that are TV-visible. However, fans attending live games, will see standard dasherboard advertising.
The computer-generated imagery (CGI) technology provided by Supponor digitally overlays the Air Canada Centre’s dasherboard ads. There have been four different iterations of the dasherboard messaging throughout this tournament. Those four iterations represent the four different broadcasts: Sportsnet and TVA in Canada for the English and French feeds, ESPN for the feeds shown in the United States, and the international feed that is distributed through the global broadcast partners of the World Cup of Hockey.
In order to execute augmented reality dasherboards, the NHL had to adopt Supponor’s technological system, which included attachments to the television cameras that could detect an infrared signal from an invisible film that was placed along the dasherboards. Since hockey is a fast-moving game, which often includes hits and play along the boards, the film had to be tested to determine whether it could withstand that type of play. Technicians on-site in a truck at the tournament manually input the CGI ads for each broadcast.
Additionally, the coloration and images shown on the ads had to be particular, as to minimize distraction. Focus groups analyzed the dasherboards and helped the NHL establish that the digital ads should only change when the camera does not show the boards.
The NHL has worked with Supponor in the past on virtual advertising. In 2014, the NHL tested “dynamic dasherboards” that would include virtual advertising technology, which would allow advertisements to be replaced on television broadcasts. With dynamic dasherboards, the NHL saw how “away” broadcasters could sell ad space to different advertisers specifically for television broadcasts.
Former NHL Chief Operating Officer John Collins discussed the testing phase in 2014: “The technology isn’t perfect yet and clearly this is something that would require approval at the [Board of Governors] level. We’re looking to find new revenue, and that makes this worth exploring for any of our broadcasters, whether it’s a Chicago broadcast from New York or a broadcast of a [Washington] Caps game to Russia, where they want to see Ovechkin [and the international feed could feature Russia-based advertisers].”
In 2014, Collins and the NHL aimed to utilize this technology for the 2015-16 season, testing it at events like the All-Star Game and Winter Classic. However, the NHL did not have the opportunity to test until the World Cup of Hockey 2016. Virtual advertising had been used by the NHL prior to this, but the league stipulated that those ads had to appear above the dasherboards––often sold for behind the goals.
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NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly recently discussed the NHL’s experiment with CGI dasherboards: “The most interesting thing from a sponsor standpoint, and something that is immediately very popular, is the visually enhanced action boards — what we euphemistically call ‘erase and replace’ technology — which we haven’t used in our game before. We have virtual ads that we’ve used on the boards before, but we’ve never replaced dasher boards, and we found that by creating the digital dasher boards you can actually create a cleaner look, a more distinct and unique look for a single advertiser, which has been very attractive to our corporate sponsors.”
By having different signage in the arena than what is shown on television, the dasherboards are able to be monetized more for the World Cup of Hockey. For this event, signage was sold on the dasherboards for the arena’s live audience in addition to CGI television viewable ads sold by the media and broadcast partners.
The standard dasherboard advertisements appear for approximately 15 percent of the television airtime during replays and close-up shots. For the World Cup of Hockey, the CGI ads were sold for a guaranteed amount of time shown on the boards. The time an ad is shown is broken into increments based on game play.
Typically, teams and leagues sell dasherboard signage, but now the media partners of the event also have the opportunity to generate revenue from the dasherboard advertisements. Traditionally, an issue can arise when selling signage on the dasherboards in less than ideally located areas. Television viewable dasherboard ads are generally sold easily, but many partners want frequently viewed areas on the boards for the best brand activation. By having CGI advertisements that can change throughout a game, selling less-viewed areas of the boards should no longer be as much of a concern for the NHL and its teams if these are implemented past the tournament.
President of Sportsnet and NHL Properties for Rogers Scott Moore acknowledged the balance needed to utilize digitally enhanced dasherboards: “It’s making the boards look cleaner. It’s great for the advertisers. But it can’t just be a money grab. It has to be used for good, and not evil. It should be used to help tell stories. When we get to the point where it can be used to present graphics and stats and help with the player tracking, that’s where it becomes something special to the viewer.”
While some have seen the CGI dasherboards as a distraction, others have been amused by some of the perks of these dasherboards, like the CGI ads changing when a goal is scored to show signage for the scoring team.
For now, the CGI ads will not be integrated into all of the NHL arenas due to the high costs and labor necessary to install the equipment into each facility. Supponor is working to develop a more adaptable software that could better scale to fitting each arena. And hopefully by the time that is developed, it will be done in a way in which more fans will see this as a technological enhancement instead of a viewing distraction.
