Virtual Overlay Advertising: Can It Work?
Live broadcasts (mostly sports) are continually searching for more places to put ads. It feels like common sense because there's a ton of data that points to the massive value that comes with advertising during live sporting events. Brands are looking for any way and anywhere possible to get in front of all those eyeballs. Advertising throughout the arena is one thing, but you can’t always count on cameras finding signage in the upper decks. Brands are now willing to pay a premium for their ads to become part of the action.
First it was slapping logos on the players' jerseys. Now brands on the playing surfaces and their backdrops. Why limit yourself to physical ads when we have the technology to change ads from game to game or even quarter to quarter? That’s where virtual overlay advertising (VOA) comes into play.
What is Virtual Overlay Advertising?
There are a few different names for it, such as virtual superimposed advertising, virtual replacement technology, and augmented reality advertising. They all largely refer to the same thing, but for consistency’s sake, we’ll be referring to it as VOA. It’s when advertisements are projected onto a physical space so that only people watching the broadcast can see it.
If you watch a basketball game, you’re likely to see ads on the court, but those are only visible on the broadcast. They aren’t actually painted onto the court, or the backstop, or those signs that circumvent a soccer field.
Still a relatively new form of advertising, the earliest instance we could find was during the 2015 Audi Cup, a soccer tournament in Germany. One article claims that it was first used during the 2006 World Cup, but we couldn’t find any examples of it actually being used. You can see these ad types in their infancy here.
You’d be forgiven for thinking those are simple video ads playing on some kind of screen on the backdrop. If you pay close attention, you’ll notice that the ads change between cuts from live action to the replays of that same action. That means it’s either VOA or some kind of time traveling advertisement, and we haven’t released those to the public yet.
Audience Reaction
The overwhelming consensus is that people are not fans, with one article from Awful Announcing, a publication that covers sports broadcasting, saying “digital ads are here to ruin NBA moments forever.” The article discusses the moment when LeBron James scores his 40,000th career point and how whenever someone watches this moment in basketball history, they’ll have to look at an ad for Kung Fu Panda 4 (undoubtedly the best iteration of the Kung Fu Panda series).
Did you see it? Did you see the ad? Of course you did. Interestingly, although the headline of the article specifically calls out digital ads (VOA), the writer seems to have as many problems with the quality of the ad itself rather than the medium.
“I mean, let’s talk about how embarrassing this is. First, the ad itself is hideous. Ostensibly, these ads are so supposed to blend in with the hardwood so well that we, the inattentive viewer, forget that they’re even there, but that’s impossible not only because of the obnoxious size of them but the fact that the technology for them isn’t good at all. This ad, for example, is fuzzy and jittery; despite its size, you actually have to concentrate to make out what the text actually says, which is pretty ridiculous.”
Would it be possible then to create a VOA that doesn’t take away from the actual broadcast by making one that is a little smaller, a little more crisp, and a little less hideous? Being the confident ad makers that we are, our first instinct is of course, “duh.”
The writer goes on to say, “If you were watching the game, you could see it flicker every now and then too, and when players like Jamal Murray or Aaron Gordon would walk over it, the ads would briefly pass through part of their skin,” which is clearly taking issue with this specific ad format. This is a problem for VOA that obviously isn’t an issue for a physical advertisement.
That speaks to a limitation of the technology itself. While having a digitally imposed ad that is so inconspicuous, it looks like it was painted onto the court, which is great in theory, we just might not be there yet. And this Awful Announcing article isn’t from 2015, when this technology started being used; it’s from a little over a year ago.
Should There Be Targeted Ads on TV Broadcasts?
“Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should.” —Dr. Ian Malcolm
There are countless forms of advertising that target their audiences based on location, age, gender, and many other factors. This usually isn’t an issue because many of these targeted ads are digital. People typically only get them on their social media feeds or websites. That is to say, the user is the only one who sees the ads. But broadcast TV can be a communal experience. People watch TV together, and so it can create an awkward situation if you get targeted with certain ads.
Virtual superimposed advertising is a natural evolution of trying to fit as much advertising into a given space as possible. The largely negative reaction from audiences begs the question, “How much advertising is enough?” Yes, we are advertising professionals, and we’re constantly investigating how to be effective, but when the workday ends and we leave the office, we are the ones being targeted with ads. We’re well aware of the sometimes invasive and annoying nature of being advertised all day long.
Regarding VOA, it seems like it could work…if and when the technology gets good enough. If they could just figure out how to make it so it doesn’t clip through the live action, which seems to be the biggest problem audiences have with it, then it could actually be a really useful tool. Part of the reason VOA are so great in theory is that physical ads have the potential to interfere with the athletes, like when NBA players slip on the decals painted onto the courts.
Currently, virtually imposing ads may solve the problem of interfering with the action but add difficulties with the viewing experience. The best option may be to wait until the technology catches up with the ambitions of the advertising industry. There are still plenty of opportunities for ad space during a live broadcast, and maybe we don’t need to monopolize every inch of space.
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