Why not everyone sees the same thing on the EM advertising boards
Despite what you may trust your eyes to see during soccer transfers for the European Championship games, there are often different things to behold around the field during replays. It's all about money.
Advertising bands have been a fixture in football for decades. According to FIFA, their partner Coca-Cola was already advertising on the sidelines during the 1950 World Cup. Since then, the concept has spread down to the local leagues. The advertising band has become more professional, with LED screens and monitors replacing posters. The EM 2024 is also a milestone from an advertising perspective. For the first time, it's not just the advertising space that decides what appears behind the key players on TV screens - it's an AI.
This "virtual advertising" (as it's referred to in German broadcasts) is intended to help UEFA advertising partners better target different markets. In plain terms: An ad from, for example, Coca-Cola, which is still active in football, appears in the stadium in English, but in the German TV broadcast with a German slogan. The goal is simply to play the same ad more effectively. It's not the case that different ads are shown for different partners in different countries at the same time - with one exception.
Limited Use
In German broadcasts, there are some exclusive advertising partners like Telekom or Deutsche Bahn, whose ads are otherwise hardly visible. The technology is only being used for the Chinese, US, and German markets. Viewers in India, France, Egypt, or Argentina, for example, all see the unaltered advertising bands from the stadium.
There are still further limitations. The overlay is only used when the main camera shot is visible. In other camera angles, during penalty shootouts or in goal replays, for example, virtual advertising bands have no effect. Swiss company Aim Sport is responsible for the advertising in the UEFA broadcast center in Leipzig, and the optimized ad is ultimately created there. For the TV viewer, the process is hardly noticeable. Interruptions, such as those that cause players to disappear behind the overspilled advertising, are extremely rare.
The concept makes its debut in football at this year's European Championship, but it has already been established in club football for some time. The Bundesliga has allowed virtual advertising in foreign broadcasts since 2018. In other sports, the technology is not only used for advertising bands. The US ice hockey league NHL, for example, uses the technology to make various logos on the ice visible.
The European Football Championship 2024 is breaking new ground in advertising, as UEFA is using AI to tailor ads for different markets. Fifa's long-standing partner, Coca-Cola, has been a part of advertising in football since the 1950 World Cup. Despite these advancements, not all markets will see the virtual advertising, as exclusive partners like Telekom and Deutsche Bahn have limited visibility.
