Supponor, Mediapro renew partnership
July 19, 2023
Supponor, the virtual advertising technology solution provider in sports, and Mediapro, the TV production and marketing rights agency in the sports and entertainment industry, have announced the long term renewal of their long-standing partnership.
This agreement further cements the decade-long partnership between Supponor and Mediapro; underlining Supponor’s most enduring commercial relationship and recognising Mediapro as a true innovator and pioneer in the adoption of Virtual Advertising technologies in top-tier football.
Under this partnership, Supponor and Mediapro have completed the transition to Supponor’s AIR technology. This platform has been broadly adopted by leading sports rights holders worldwide. The software-only, AI-based solution allows Mediapro to cost-effectively scale the deployment of Virtual Advertising for both Virtual LED Replacement and Virtual Cam Carpets in 358 La Liga matches, including FC Barcelona home matches, each season with up to twelve virtually enabled feeds distributed globally.
Supponor AIR is deployed fully remotely from Mediapro’s new virtual Master Control Room (MCR) at Imagina, in Barcelona, during all LaLiga games, supporting virtual operations in up to ten concurrent games. The virtually modified feeds are distributed to international broadcasters from the same Imagina MCR. Supponor AIR is fully software-based and driven by cutting-edge technological innovations such as Computer Vision, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML). Its fully remote nature means it eliminates the need for any on-site operations at the venue – making for more advanced, scalable and commercially valuable production which has a lower carbon footprint than traditional on-site production methods.
“GRUP Mediapro is our longest serving client and strategic partner at the same time, so we are extremely pleased to commit for a second decade of mutually successful partnership together,” said Massimo Magrì, EMEA Managing Director, and Global Head of Football, at Supponor. “Together with GRUP Mediapro, we will be expanding our collaboration to multiple sports properties in Spain and beyond. We will fully exploit the full potential of the Imagina MCR for other business opportunities operated by GRUP Mediapro, as a hub to deploy Supponor AIR during other sporting events globally. By transitioning to Supponor AIR, GRUP v and Supponor can actively engage with other GRUP Mediapro properties in football, and beyond, in other locations to enhance GRUP Mediapro’s current and future marketing rights and production business.”
Supponor and Mediapro’s 10-year-long strategic partnership has delivered the successful rollout of commercially valuable virtual advertising technologies, which are crucial in driving innovation for LaLiga and its brand partners.
“Our long history in championing innovation and track record of proven commercial success ensured we were very keen to renew our valuable partnership,” said Julian Fernandez, Chief Commercial Officer. “GRUP Mediapro has the longest track-record in the commercial exploitation of sports marketing rights through Virtual Advertising technologies, and considers Supponor AIR currently the best turnkey solution considering quality, performance, commercial value, scalability and sustainability. Supponor is the market leader in virtual advertising, while we lead the sports and entertainment TV production and marketing sector; so, this partnership perfectly leverages the synergies between the two companies. We have proved that. We look forward to both parties building on that legacy for many years to come.”
Supponor AIR was commercially launched in 2021. By the beginning of the 2022/23 season, Supponor had fully transitioned from legacy hardware-based technologies to a fully software-based platform and no longer deploys, markets or utilises the now-retired hardware-based solution.
Supponor AIR has been adopted all over the globe by world-leading sports properties such as Italy’s Serie A, the German Bundesliga, and outside of football by the NHL ice hockey league in North America. GRUP Mediapro has undergone the same journey by adopting Supponor AIR from the 2021/22 LaLiga season.
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