How Can They Change the Ads on the Backstops between Innings Its Virtually Possible
Next time you watch a Major League Baseball game, watch the advertisements appearing on the backstop behind the batter. At the top of the inning, you will see an ad for one company—let's say Yahoo.com—between innings you may see one for Office Depot, and at the bottom of the inning you may see Toyota's message. Or perhaps you were watching a college football game on ESPN and you saw different ads between the goalposts every time an extra point or field goal was kicked. Did you ever wonder how they could change those ads so quickly? Actually they don't. What you are seeing is a new technology called virtual advertising, in which the ads are digitally entered onto your screen. While you are seeing the ads on your screen, people at the stadium are seeing a blank wall.
Virtual advertising has been around for a few years, with the San Francisco Giants baseball team being the first to test the medium in the summer of 1996. The San Diego Padres, Philadelphia Phillies, and Seattle Mariners have used it. Fox Sports has used virtually advertising on a regional basis, and ESPN has placed virtual ads on its Sunday night football games aired nationally. The new advertising form is catching on so quickly that the San Diego Padres sold out all their virtual spots for the baseball season, and a number of other teams are expected to begin to offer them in the future.
In virtual advertising,ad messages are inserted into a TV picture so that they appear to be part of the stadium scene. The advertiser can pay the same price for the virtual placement as it would for a 30-second spot on the same game telecast. The cost can range from as low as $8,000 to as much as $25,000 on an ESPN national telecast. In baseball, the ads last as long as the half inning—typically 4 to 8 minutes. Other sports events using virtual advertising include football, arena football, and tennis. Exposure times, of course, are calculated differently for each sport.
Advertisers like the new virtual capabilities for a number of reasons. First,the ads are shown while the event is still active, rather than during commercial slots, increasing the likelihood of viewer attention. Second, the format allows for a large number of companies to participate (the three mentioned above all appeared in a single Padres game), and since the ads are digitally created, there are few production difficulties and little inventory to contend with. The same game shown in two different markets can carry different ads for each market.
Before you begin to think that this technology is limited to sports, consider this: In an episode of the prime-time entertainment show Seven Days, virtual product placements appeared for the first time in such programming. After the program had been produced and put on the air, Princeton Video Image created the placements in a syndicated rerun, with a Wells Fargo bank sign, Kenneth Cole shopping bags, and bottles of Coca-Cola and Evian appearing on the screen. The products, bags, and signs never existed in the actual episode. The Mexican TV network Televisia is also inserting visual product placements in entertainment shows in Mexico. Televisia charges $1,000 per insertion. The potential seems endless, as almost any product can be placed in a syndicated show, in almost any scene—creating a bonanza for advertisers.
Not everyone is so happy about the new technology, however. Some industry experts are concerned that the potential for virtual advertising and product placements may lead to oversaturation, becoming offensive and in poor taste. They note that product placement buyers will seek prominent placements, at key parts of the program,and that actors and actresses will become
unknowing (and even unwilling) endorsers. (Imagine Sydney Bristow of Alias carrying a purse even though she never actually had one in the performance!) Equally important, they contend, is the potential for crass commercialism, with ads and placements getting in the way of program content—again irritating the viewer. Finally, and no less important, what about the actual sponsor or advertiser in a commercial break of the program? If Pepsi buys a regular ad on the program, and Coke, or even Evian, is allowed to appear as a product placement, what impact does that have on Pepsi's commercial? If General Motors sponsors college football games, and a virtual ad for Toyota appears every time a field goal or extra point is kicked, is that fair? FIFA, the governing body of international soccer (football), doesn't think so: After a match in Greece showed a giant spray can of deodorant hovering above the field, FIFA issued guidelines designed to limit the use of virtual placements. Viewers watching CBS's evening news broadcast from Times Square saw a billboard advertising CBS news, but it really wasn't there—it was a placement.
At this point, virtual advertising and product placements are in the infancy stage. But who knows how quickly the medium will catch on? The next time you watch I Love Lucy, Lucy may be drinking a Diet Coke, while Ricky takes Viagra. Or the UCLA placekicker— whose team is sponsored by Adidas—may be kicking into a Nike ad.The Turner Broadcasting System (TBS) has recently struck a deal to insert virtual advertising in its syndicated programming of Law and Order. The inserts will likely include ads on the coffee cups police officers drink from and on the soda machine in the police station. Who knows how things will change?
Sources: Stuart Elliott, "A Video Process Allows the Insertion of Brand-Name Products in TV Shows Already on Film," New York Times, Mar. 29,1999, p. 11; John Consoli, "Virtual Ads Set to Pitch," Mediaweek, Mar. 22,1999, mediaweek.com; "Virtual Ads, Real Problems," Advertising Age, Mar. 24,1999, p. 30; "Virtual Signage Breaks into Prime Time," Mediaweek, Mar. 29,1999, mediaweek.com; David Goetel,"TBS Tries Virtual Advertising," Advertising Age, May 21, 2001, p. 8; "Virtual Advertising," Economist, Jan. 15,2000, p. 68.
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