Modern technologies are a far cry from what has come before, particularly in the sports sponsorship industry. Virtual advertising is now being used across some of the most high-profile sports in the world, transforming the opportunities available to brands and helping rights holders and broadcasters to drive revenue.

Sport’s transformation from a series of community-based leisure pursuits into a global industry worth hundreds of billions of dollars owes much to its symbiotic relationship with the media and with sponsorship.

The World Cup is arguably the single biggest cultural event on the planet, with the 2022 tournament generating a record US$7.5 billion in commercial revenue over a four-year cycle, and the final between Argentina and France attracting a worldwide viewership of 1.5 billion people.

But sporting events of all sizes are capable of generating local, national and global attention, as well as highly specific audiences along geographic, social and cultural lines. So it’s not hard to see why brands are so keen to harness this cultural power as a way to drive awareness or sales and associate themselves with athletes, teams and major events.

On the field
Certain brands are intrinsically linked in the minds of fans with iconic events or periods in sporting history, whether it’s kit supply partnerships, stadium naming rights, or front-of-shirt branding. Many of these arrangements also include on-field and pitch side advertising, conveying their message to fans in the stand and potentially millions of people at home. Indeed, advertising hoardings have appeared in some of the most iconic footage and photographs in the history of sport.

The major technological innovation in this space has been LED-powered electronic advertising boards that increase inventory and give more brands a greater share of the most prominent positions, driving quality of exposure and return on investment.

LED boards make it possible to include last-minute advertising deals, make it easy for partners to promote different products from one event to the next, and there is no need to construct, transport and install a plywood board. Meanwhile, LED boards support animated creatives that are more likely to engage viewers.

Yet despite these technological advances, conventional pitchsidepitch side advertising simply isn’t dynamic enough to support the expanding commercial opportunities afforded by modern sport. LED boards can still only display a single creative at any one time and there are still up-front and maintenance costs that act as barriers to adoption.

In a world where sport is increasingly global and technologically-driven whilst still retaining core local audiences, it makes no sense that commercial approaches aren’t tailored to multiple audiences and aren’t agile enough to respond to opportunities. An advertisement promoting a fish and chip shop might resonate with an English soccer club’s season ticket holders but will be wholly irrelevant to a global audience. Similarly, a wealth management firm is less likely to be interested in that local audience, while a multinational organisation will want to promote different brands in different markets.

What is virtual advertising?
Virtual advertising technology provides a solution to many of these challenges by allowing event organisers and broadcasters to digitally impose creatives into live feeds and on-demand video content. Variations of this technology have been around for some time but these have been fairly primitive, cost-prohibitive, or added unwanted complexity to back-end operations. These solutions have failed to yield the desired benefits and have in some cases led to a unsatisfactory viewing experience.

However, a brand new wave of tools are now available powered by advances in broadcast technology, cloud infrastructure and artificial intelligence (AI).

Solutions like Uniqfeed AdApt, which was originally developed by computer science specialists at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich, use computer vision technology to intelligently and elegantly add advertising to live video.

Uniqfeed technology is software-based, negating the need for physical hardware at the venue or in a production truck, meaning it is massively scalable. All it requires to work is the “dirty” world feed and an isolated camera feed, and because it sits at the very end of the production chain, the technology doesn’t disrupt existing workflows. Whilst single camera sports such as tennis were obvious early candidates, computer processing speeds and server technology mean it can work even in demanding sports like soccer.

This means it’s possible for a team or league to sell advertising on a local, national and global basis, driving up revenues. They can also accept last-minute bookings to take advantage of wider multimedia marketing campaigns.

“The technology is now sophisticated and fast enough to the point that the viewer doesn’t realise what they are seeing is customised for their location or personal demographic,” explains Tom Huston, chief commercial officer at Uniqfeed.

Tailored advertising
With virtual advertising, a US major league sports franchise can sell different advertising for both local and national broadcasts, while a European soccer club can sell market-by-market. For a major global event, such as a World Cup, top-level partners can advertise different brands to different markets.

The technology also acts as a democratising force as teams that would not be able to purchase LED advertising boards can easily and cost-effectively capitalise on a one-off televised event.

“A lower league or non-league club in the early rounds of the FA Cup with a televised game can add advertising even if they would never be able to afford LED advertising boards,” explains Huston. “This creates consistency in terms of commercial delivery and video experience.”

The technology is now sophisticated and fast enough to the point that the viewer doesn’t realise what they are seeing is customised for their location or personal demographic.

Tom Huston, Chief Commercial Officer, Uniqfeed
Most virtual advertising can be characterised as ‘erase and replace’, whereby digital advertising is overlaid over physical infrastructure. It’s also possible to digitally insert creatives without the need for physical infrastructure, unlocking new possibilities on a rugby pitch, a golf course, or on a race track. However, this practice is currently forbidden in certain territories.

Swiss-Ski has replaced physical signage during World Cup ski races, while the Davis Cup tennis tournament made use of virtual advertising technology to overcome local restrictions.

“When the Davis Cup was held at the historic Kallimarmaro Stadium, advertising was not permitted on the grounds of the stadium due to archeological laws regulations,” says Alexander Deris, media manager at agency Taf Media. “With Uniqfeed, we were able to offer a practical solution to the competition’s and federation’s sponsors, while keeping in line with the unique circumstances so everyone was happy with the results.

“I think that we will start seeing virtual advertising play an exponentially larger role in advertising throughout the next years. It’s also a great time for agencies to experiment with this exciting product and broaden their possibilities, as well as for their clients.”

Looking to the future
Essentially, the technology has finally caught up with the original vision and sports organisations are much more aware of the potential benefits of virtual advertising – especially in a world where digital platforms are a much more important part of the media mix.

The limitless capacity of the internet allows multiple feeds of the same content so a soccer match can be tailored to home or away fans, a basketball game can cater to those interested in fantasy sports and betting, and a cricket match can be customised with deep-level statistics. The advertising for all of these feeds can be tailored to each audience, driving revenues for rights holders and broadcasters and making sports sponsorship a much more effective marketing tool.

Looking further ahead, technological advances can allow clubs and federations to expand beyond sponsorship into the realm of advertising, working with an agency or creating an in-house department to sell inventory that hasn’t been allocated for sponsors. This capability, coupled with the vast treasure trove of data collected by over-the-top (OTT) streaming platforms, can help sport compete with other platforms, especially in the world of dynamic advertising.

“Advertising budgets are ten times greater than worldwide sponsorship budgets are and the sales lead time for advertising is dramatically shorter than it is for deeper, more complex relationships with a long-term partner,” explains Huston. “Sport can accurately predict the profile of the audience on television, online, and in person, and virtual advertising opens up the ability to insert creatives at the last minute.”

The technological and commercial realities of virtual advertising are vastly different to what has come before. Cartoon-esque graphics that annoy viewers are a thing of the past, and it’s no longer expensive or challenging to add modern solutions to production workflows.

The new breed of virtual advertising is more advanced, scalable, and intuitive than what has come before, making the ‘golden triangle’ of sport, media and sponsorship as important as ever.