The Signal: Staying with the soccer (or as our international audience is screaming, “football”) theme, The Economist recently published an interesting article looking at virtual ads. This technology works by “placing invisible infrared signals in signs to distinguish them from other objects in the foreground… images can then be superimposed onto them in a live TV broadcast.” 

Below is an example of the same sign showing one in-stadium ad and different virtual ads (seen either on TV or online). The appeal of this business is that ads can be tailored to regional locations where viewers are watching from, which greatly expands the ad inventory for live sports.

Virtual ad technology allows a single billboard to show multiple ads that differ from in-stadium to video (ADI)