EHF, Infront, DAZN and Supponor Team Up for World First Virtual Advertising at EHF Events

Ljubljana, 17 November 2022: The European Handball Federation (EHF), its exclusive media and marketing partners Infront and DAZN, and Supponor, the world’s market leader of virtual replacement technology (VRT) have joined forces for the delivery of virtual advertising at the Women’s EHF EURO 2022 tournament in Slovenia, North Macedonia and Montenegro this month.

The partnership, which sees virtual advertising used on the LED perimeter boards on the long-side of the court, is a milestone moment for the sports industry. It marks the first virtual advertising deployment in handball and also the first ever Supponor VRT adoption during a women’s event.

The implementation of this technology has allowed Coolbet, an EHF EURO Official Partner, to target key handball audiences during a select number of matches in the main round & final round.

“Coolbet has always been driven by technology” said Endre Nesset, CEO of Coolbet. “The virtual advertising solution offered by Infront and EHF maintains the quality we expect as a partner of the event, easily matching the detail of in-venue LED boards. It was vital for us to ensure we could target our key handball audience during various national team matches and we’re proud to be part of this evolution in sports marketing.”

“The EHF is very proud to be a pioneer in this space,” said Martin Hausleitner, Secretary General of the European Handball Federation. “Adopting virtual LED replacement technology for the first time during a women’s sports event and in handball is a landmark moment. Our partnership with Infront and their supplier Supponor demonstrates the increasing commercial value of women’s sports. We are looking forward to continuing such collaborations with market leading partners in their respective fields to expand the commercial potential of our prestigious handball events.”

“This is not the first time Infront and Supponor have partnered, this latest project follows our successful collaboration during the IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship in May this year,” said James Chubb, Head of Handball at Infront. “When the opportunity arose for us to deploy virtual advertising at the 2022 Women’s EHF EURO, not only was it logical to expand our partnership with Supponor but it also provided an opportunity to expand the commercial options available for sponsors and further enhance our approach to innovation within our partnership with EHF. We are excited to be able to accommodate our partner Coolbet whilst also exploring more options to add value for EHF.”

The plan is to continue to deploy virtual advertising technology for future EHF events, opening up more opportunities for a tailored approach for sponsors looking to target specific markets, with customized messaging.

“At Supponor we’re incredibly proud to expand our collaboration with Infront as one of the world’s leading sports marketing agencies, and to add the prestigious EHF to our client portfolio” said Massimo Magrì, Managing Director, Europe, Supponor. “Adding handball as a new vertical is an amazing opportunity, alongside the inaugural deployment of VRT at a major women’s sport event. We are committed as a business to continuing providing our services to enhance women’s sports, handball, and indoor sports in general globally. Our innovative VRT platform, Supponor AIR®, has so far enabled us to scale significantly as a business in the past 24 months. Thanks to the strategic partnerships with world leading sports rights holders, and through the transition to purely software based VRT, often operated completely remotely.”

About Supponor

Supponor® is the clear market leader in the virtual advertising industry, broadcasting over 1,200 top-tier sports events worldwide in 2021. Supponor AIR®, launched in 2021, is a fully software-based technology platform that relies on leading-edge Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) approaches to deliver authentic virtual placement or replacement advertising live, on any surface, in any sport, at any venue, and in any weather condition. Supponor’s virtual advertising solutions have been trusted by rights holders in top-tier sports leagues across football, hockey, basketball, rugby, cricket, and a host of other top sports. Supponor is headquartered in London and has its R&D base in Helsinki, with regional offices in Barcelona, Milan, Cologne, New York, Toronto, and Sydney. Additional information: www.supponor.com.

About Infront

Connecting fans and consumers to the greatest sports events, Infront, a Wanda Sports Group company, offers everything an event or commercial partner needs to be successful. With a team of around 1,000 experts working from 44 offices across 16 countries around the world, Infront is equipped to tackle any challenge—be it innovative digital solutions, world-class event operations, international media rights distribution, sponsorship sales and activations or cutting-edge media production. Headquartered in Switzerland, Infront is passionate and #AllAboutSports. @infrontsports www.infront.sport

About the EHF

The European Handball Federation (EHF) is the governing body for handball in Europe. With 50 member federations and two associated federations, the EHF is responsible for a wide range of tasks and activities from promotion, development and education through to the organisation of high-profile competitions and events including the EHF EURO and EHF Champions League. The headquarters of the federation and its marketing subsidiary, EHF Marketing GmbH, are in Vienna, Austria. More information at www.eurohandball.com

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