The National Hockey League (NHL) has added another option for advertisers looking to increase their in-game presence during game broadcasts this season, debuting digitally enhanced dasherboards (DED).

Working with technology provider Supponor, the new system will allow for digital replacement of camera-visible rink boards within local, national and international NHL game broadcasts.

DED uses remote, artificial intelligence-based keying technology to allow graphics to be displayed during games in a market-specific way. This will result in targeted branding and promotional messaging that was not previously achievable.

James B. Gambrell, Supponor’s CEO, says that with up to 15 concurrent games in one night and 40 game broadcasts per week during the NHL regular season, the introduction of the new technology is an ambitious large-scale deployment of new ad inventory for the league that could be replicated in other sports.

Some of the branding and messaging that will now be possible through the new system includes URLs, flighted marketing campaigns, co-branded official designations, social media integration and QR codes. Furthermore, DED displays will be programmable into multiple formats from a single-advertiser full-dasherboard takeover to a split zone format with ten advertisers brands.

Rogers Sports & Media, which holds the national Canadian broadcast rights, confirmed the company will be offering DED options to Canadian advertisers.