Originally reported by SportsPro
In sports broadcasting, a 30-second advertising spot may seem fleeting, but for brands, it holds the potential to drive massive visibility and engagement. Yet, for years, the industry has grappled with a fundamental challenge: accurately measuring the value of in-game sponsorships.
With the physical space available for branding inside stadiums and arenas being limited, rights holders have increasingly turned to digital innovation to expand their commercial offerings. The National Hockey League (NHL), for example, has pioneered the use of Digitally Enhanced Dasherboards (DEDs) — virtual ads displayed on the rink barriers that can be customized based on broadcast region.
While this marks a leap forward, not every league has kept pace. Many teams still provide limited transparency on brand exposure, such as time on screen or visibility ratios.
Enter VISUA, a company that is collaborating with Vision Insights to provide detailed sponsorship analytics powered by artificial intelligence. Their platform delivers granular data that helps brands understand exactly how and where their logos appear during live sports coverage — and what value that exposure delivers.
Closing the Gap Between Spend and Impact
“There is a lack of knowledge about what can actually be achieved today,” said Franco De Bonis, Marketing Operations Director at VISUA, speaking to SportsPro. “Brands often make significant sponsorship investments but rely only on post-campaign sales performance to measure effectiveness. That leaves a lot of untapped opportunity in between.”
VISUA addresses this by analyzing every single frame of footage from major U.S. sports leagues. Their AI identifies brand logos, the surfaces they appear on, the duration of their visibility, and how clearly they were seen. Everything is tracked down to the millisecond, offering full transparency without assumptions or data sampling.
Data-Driven Metrics: What’s Measured Matters
Each appearance of a brand is paired with contextual data — such as screen share, logo clarity, and exposure time. Vision Insights then transforms this into digestible metrics for brands, enabling them to evaluate individual games or aggregate performance over a season.
This detailed level of analysis allows brands and rights holders to move beyond generic reach estimates and instead optimize sponsorship strategy with precision.
Among the key metrics measured:
- Exposure area and time
- On-screen clarity from a viewer’s perspective
- Object and player tagging
- Share of voice (logo appearance alongside others)
- Visibility factor (how much of a logo must be visible to be recognizable)
De Bonis emphasizes the importance of frame-by-frame analysis:
“In a fast-moving sport like ice hockey, a logo might flash on screen and disappear in under a second. Sampling every second just doesn’t cut it. We analyze all 30 or even 60 frames per second to ensure true accuracy.”
The Transatlantic Divide in Sponsorship Strategy
While North American leagues have embraced this data-first approach, European sports remain more conservative — both in branding presence and analytics.
“In Europe, it’s almost seen as crass to have too much branding,” De Bonis noted. “But virtual insertion allows you to offer more exposure without overwhelming the viewer. With regional customization, leagues can scale brand impact without compromising aesthetics.”
As a result, U.S. leagues like MLB are securing massive returns. A digitally inserted ad lasting just 30 seconds during the World Series can fetch up to $700,000.
This is made possible by standardized valuation models, such as Equivalent Commercial Value (ECV) — which translates logo exposure into an estimated media value based on actual ad rates during the same broadcast.
“We align with media spend data from broadcasters,” said VISUA. “If a 30-second ad during a game costs X, and your logo appears for a similar duration, we can provide a value estimate using like-for-like comparisons. It’s a model brands and agencies already understand.”
The Future Is Virtual and Verified
Virtual advertising, AI-powered analysis, and millisecond-level transparency are fast becoming essential tools for brands looking to justify their sports sponsorship spend. For rights holders, these technologies unlock new inventory without expanding physical ad space — all while offering the proof of performance today’s marketers demand.
As De Bonis concluded, the path forward lies in data, adaptability, and smart technology deployment. With the right tools, sports properties can regionalize content, multiply brand visibility, and realize the full commercial potential of every broadcast frame.
Credit: This article is based on reporting from SportsPro
