SPORTFIVE and Supponor extend partnership

SPORTFIVE and Supponor currently offer the only virtual advertising solution approved and licensed by the German Football League (DFL) for commercial operations in the Bundesliga, whose reach has recently been boosted as the first and only European top league to have had a successful restart to the season.

Virtual advertising creates new high impact, high-value visible TV advertising inventory within Bundesliga matches, where sponsors and advertisers benefit from the reach and worldwide attention of one of the top leagues worldwide. The possibilities of the digital overlay of advertising boards is of decisive importance, especially for global and regional sponsorships and partnerships outside the German-speaking market.

While fans in stadiums and domestic TV audiences see no change from the physical in-stadium messages, TV audiences in other markets can be individually targeted by virtually overlaying the existing animated perimeter LED boards from within the live broadcast signal.

James B Gambrell, CEO of Supponor, said, “We are thrilled to extend our partnership with SPORTFIVE as a testament to the powerful collaborative relationship we have built. The announcement of our extended cooperation comes at a time where engaging with audiences is more important than ever and virtual advertising technology can be the key to this improved fan engagement and interaction with sponsors, leagues and clubs. We look forward to working with SPORTFIVE as we continue to grow our partnership beyond Germany by expanding virtual solutions in live sport across the globe.”

For the past two seasons, Supponor’s proprietary technology platform has been proven to reliably and authentically modify regular transmission, delivering virtual multiplication of the perimeter advertising space to multiple international markets. This has given advertising partners a wide range of options, such as being able to target groups in different regions and the possibility of acquiring different partners per region for rights-holders.

At the moment, a total of five TV feeds are being produced with individual advertising messages adapted to each feed and region. Audiences in Germany, Austria and Switzerland see the LED boards as they are in the stadium, while the advertising spaces outside these countries – including the USA, China, Thailand, Japan and EMEA – are overlaid with individual content.

Thanks to the virtual advertising technology exclusively licensed by the DFL, brands can now have the option to book one, several or all feeds to play out their advertising offers to a global TV audience, where they also get to choose from selected home matches of football clubs such as Borussia Dortmund, Hertha BSC, FC Augsburg and Borussia Mönchengladbach.

In the future, there are plans to also implement static or animated virtual 3D cam carpets to individualise the popular 3D tool for international markets.

Philipp Hasenbein, COO of SPORTFIVE, said, “We are proud that together with our partners, we have been able to pave the way for further innovations in the industry. This technology enables brands and rights-holders to create real additional value. The novel use of the cam carpets underlines our role as an innovation driver in this field. We thus support our partners in further positioning themselves in the respective target markets and in reaching their target groups with country-specific advertising messages.”

Over the last two seasons, virtual perimeter advertising had been implemented at 60 matches in 10 different stadiums. More than 50 brands have also taken the opportunity for targeted communication in international markets.

As SPORTFIVE aims to implement the technology in additional markets such as France or England in the medium term, brand marketers can look forward to more targeted solutions in the world of sports advertising.