How Digital Ads Work?

Whether NHL fans like them or not, it's pretty clear that the digital board ads are not going away. Even if they were to glitch out and not work for an entire game, the NHL would not want to walk away from the revenue they generate, and we know the NHL will do just about anything to add another dollar to its bottom line. In knowing that they're non-negotiable when it comes to the NHL's revenue streams, it would serve us better to know a little more about them.

CBS News Minnesota went investigating this new phenomenon, and the information they found was pretty interesting. Jeff Wagner filed the report, but he doesn't really get into the "how" as much as he does the "why". Here's Jeff's report from the Xcel Energy Center.
Again, I don't fault Wagner for not getting into the technology side of things as I'm sure the NHL doesn't want their technology being shown to the world, but the "how" wasn't really shown. I still have many questions on how things work, but that will have to wait until the NHL allows someone else to do a deeper dive. For now, we do know that all 32 teams are using this technology and that only the cameras at center ice display the digital board advertisements.

Bryan Bellows, the man interviewed in the piece, is Senior Director of Corporate Partnerships for the Minnesota Wild, and he dropped the name "Supponor" in the piece. Supponor, according to their website, "provide a virtual advertising technology solution that replaces and creates in-venue brand placements with real time authentic digital overlays" that can be projected onto any surface - ice, plexiglass, and boards as examples - during TV broadcasts.

I should note that TGI Sport, "the global leader in sports technology and media rights", acquired Supponor on July 11, 2024 for €100 million ($108 million USD) as one of the world's leading sports technology company's only gets bigger and more diversified in its offerings. TGI Sport's pitch is that they are "a tech-led sports media company that exists to deliver optimal commercial value for all stakeholders through our pioneering technology solutions, global media rights expertise and leading sports marketing knowledge."

Without know how the magic is done behind the scenes, though, all Wagner's report seems to do is reinforce the idea that digital board ads are here to stay. I'm not criticizing this strategy, but I often wonder how many times a company is told "I saw your digital board ads during an NHL game" when talking to customers. I can't imagine it's been said all that often, so I'd like to see feedback and research on their effectiveness in helping a company sell its widgets.

"There's plenty of folks that think it's a much better viewing experience to watch the game," Keith Wachtel, the NHL's chief business officer and executive vice president of global partnerships, told ESPN's Greg Wyshynski in 2023. "The overwhelming sentiment was that the cleanliness of the boards is less jarring for the viewership. That it blends in more. Other than when they might change where people notice it, the prevailing thought is that they're kind of in the background."

I'm not a business owner, but, if I was investing that much money into NHL advertising, I'd want my business to be more noticeable rather than being "kind of in the background". As stated above, that would seem to indicate that people aren't noticing the ads or ignoring them altogether, and that's a hefty price tag not to be noticed. What's worse is the fact that all 32 teams are using these digital boards to send specific ads back to their home market, so the businesses who have bought in are looking for a boost in that market.

If there's one constant in all of this, it's simply that digital board ads aren't going anywhere. The businesses who use them to advertise their widgets will come and go, but the NHL will use this technology to continue to boost its revenue streams in some form or another. And I'm not here complaining about digital ads on the boards as a whole as we've had static ads on boards in rinks for forty years, but I struggle to justify in any meaningful way how plenty of folks "think it's a much better viewing experience" as per Keith Wachtel.

Frankly, if there's one thing that the CBS News Minnesota piece did confirm, it's that money at any cost is the sole driver of any and all NHL business. And that outlook isn't going to change in the future.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!