Electronic signage is revolutionizing the sports industry. More ads in less space means greater opportunity to make more revenue.
In hockey, “Dasherboards” are a prime advertising space. Companies want their logos in front of fans in the stadiums as well as broadcast viewers. The NHL is testing a new virtual form of advertising currently being referred to as “dynamic dasherboards” for the boards around the ice.
Broadcasters will be able to digitally overlay their own advertisements on the home team’s dasherboards. London-based tech firm, Supponor, is working with the NHL to test and prepare the DBR (digital billboard replacement) virtual ad system.
In an interview with the Sports Business Journal, Supponor’s Chief Executive Officer, Roger Hall, said, “In hockey, the things that pass in front of the boards are fast-moving and unpredictable. That makes our job difficult, but we’ve done enough work on hockey in a testing mode that we feel the technology is more than robust enough.”
Brands will be able to purchase more dynamic forms of advertising on these digital dashers that may include animations.
“The technology isn’t perfect yet and clearly this is something that would require approval at the [board of governors] level,” NHL’s Chief Operating Officer, John Collins, told Sports Business Journal.
“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.”
Teams can expect the value of the in-arena static dasherboard ads to greatly decrease if the NHL adopts the DBR technology. Though local sponsors may not see direct benefits from the airtime of their brands, the exposure is valuable. Proponents of this new system argue that the revenue created will greatly outweigh that which is lost from the static dasherboard sponsorships. If the NHL can, indeed, create significant new revenue, the NBA and several other leagues will surely look to adopt the technology as well.