from Susan Krashinsky of the Globe and Mail,

TV viewers of the games have been seeing a virtual overlay on the boards that allows a single brand at a time to take over all of the boards in the Air Canada Centre.

The digitally enhanced boards are the result of a two-year process involving the NHL, its broadcasters, and London-based Supponor, which provides hardware that uses infrared signals to replace the on-site boards with digital ad images during the broadcasts. It’s the first time the NHL has experimented with this kind of technology, which has already been used by La Liga in Spain for ads alongside soccer pitches.

“We saw it as a huge opportunity for us,” said Keith Wachtel, the NHL’s executive vice-president of global partnerships.

That’s because regular rink boards cannot compensate for the fact that TV audiences are spread out. The NHL has different marketing partnerships by region, not all of which are relevant to all TV viewers. Where most Canadian viewers have been seeing a string of ads from brands such as Tim Hortons, Canadian Tire and Bank of Nova Scotia around the rink, viewers on TVA have seen French-language boards; U.S. viewers tuning in through ESPN have seen ads for brands such as Geico and DraftKings; and global feeds have carried advertising targeted to audiences outside North America.

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