The NHL's newest form of arena signage is in place for this season. Digital ads are being projected along the boards for fans watching game broadcasts.
The ads, which took seven years to develop, are the NHL's latest revenue source, joining ads on jerseys and helmets.
Fans watching games on television or streaming have been exposed to these digital ads during the first few nights of the 2022-23 season.
The @NHL is replacing traditional signage on rink boards with virtual ads using digitally enhanced dasherboards.
— Sports Business Journal (@SBJ) October 3, 2022
(via @wyshynski) pic.twitter.com/7lqfiatiq8
But there are early glitches with the technology.
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Here is what you need to know about the new NHL digital dashboard ads.
When did the NHL put digital ads on the boards?
The 2022-23 NHL season is the first one where digital ads are being shown on game broadcasts. The ads were seven years in the making and the development process has cost the league tens of millions of dollars.
Advertisements on boards have been around since 1981. The Minnesota North Stars were the first team to do it.
How have the digital ads been performing?
There have been some early bumps in the road. On Wednesday's Sportsnet broadcast of the Oilers-Canucks game, the digital ads appeared to glitch out, causing many fans to take out their frustrations online.
These new NHL digital ads are wild pic.twitter.com/uN6InE68Zr
— Brady Trettenero (@BradyTrett) October 13, 2022
The league expected some mistakes at the start of the season, with the idea that fans would eventually adjust to the ads.
"Like anything else, you're going to have your people that don't like it, that think it is difficult to watch," Keith Wachtel, the NHL's chief business officer and executive vice president of global partnerships, said before the season. "But over time, like everything else, people will get used to it, and we're not concerned at all whatsoever."
How do the digital ads work?
The NHL partnered with Supponor, a virtual ad company, to develop a "remote, artificial intelligence-based keying technology to program dasherboards automatically." All dasherboards are programmed through a central hub.
ESPN's Greg Wyshynski reported on how the league's process in deciding which ads are shown and where they're placed:
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.
NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said before the season that the league is working on how to maximize the amount of money it makes from the ads.
“There’s going to be an increase in revenue as the clubs and we figure out how best to activate it and monetize it." Bettman said. "We’ve created a model that’s kind of a hybrid between the league and the clubs, between visiting and home teams. And we’re going to have to monitor very closely how best to utilize it.
"It also gives us the opportunity to use our international feeds to create revenue opportunities because it enables us to put in their domestic advertising."
