NHL to debut virtual ads on arena rink boards
NHL to debut digitally enhanced dasherboards to all arenas this season, replacing traditional advertisements on arena rink boards with virtual ones and eventually allowing broadcasts to display in-game stats, special effects.
The NHL is debuting digitally enhanced dasherboards (DED) for all games this season that will "erase and replace" the advertising found on arena rink boards with virtual ads on broadcasts.
The DED system allows for the digital replacement of camera-visible arena dasherboards within local, national and international NHL game broadcasts. While overlaying other advertisements on the boards will be its primary function, the DED system eventually will allow broadcasts to use the boards for everything from in-game stats to special effects for goal celebrations.
"Every game, every night. This is the new norm," said Keith Wachtel, the NHL's chief business officer and executive vice president of global partnerships. "We don't like to call it 'erase and replace,' but that was the original terminology. It's taking something that's existing, keeping that value, but replacing it with something that's much better and isn't static."
The first time the NHL put advertisements on its boards was in 1981 with the Minnesota North Stars. A typical arena rink will have national sponsors and local advertisers. With this technology, those advertisers can be seen on the boards for a team's home and away game broadcasts.
"What this does is allow clubs to sell as many regional game broadcasts as they're able to in their market," Wachtel said. "Also, competitors come into everyone else's market. So, every time the Rangers play in Philadelphia, Chase [Bank] has to see Wells Fargo ads coming back into their very important New York market. You can now avoid that issue, if it's important to own your own market."
When the game is seen through the main center ice camera, fans will see the DED system digital dasher ads. When there are close-ups and reverse angles on broadcasts, the in-arena boards will be visible, so those in-arena advertisers will get some exposure.
"By and large, the national and local marketers have been extremely receptive," Wachtel said.
The project, at a cost of tens of millions of dollars, is seven years in the making. That's how long it took for the NHL to feel that the technology was in the right place and was scalable for the number of games teams play in a season.
The digital boards allow broadcasts to constantly change which advertisers appear. There are five different "zones" sold to sponsors: behind both nets and all three zones. Ads are sold like commercials, with brands buying 30-second increments, based on the game clock. Every game, teams have 120 increments to program. Each broadcaster and the NHL itself get 90 seconds of institutional time for their own advertisements.
Sometimes, the boards will resemble the ones traditionally seen in the arena. Other times, one advertiser will take over the boards in a particular zone or even the entire rink.
