The European Cup football match is in full swing. The Chinese fans who watched the game through the TV broadcast can be pleasantly surprised to find that although they don't know many stars, they know a lot of Chinese character billboards, giving people the feeling of being in a trance and looking at the Super League. Interested viewers may notice that the billboards on the sidelines of the European Cup contain a large number of Chinese advertisements and domestic brands.
Is the purchasing power of Chinese fans already affecting the global advertising of the entire European Cup?
Actually it is not. According to a report from FTChinese.com, the content of the billboards on the sidelines seen by Chinese audiences are all "virtual", which is tailored specifically for the Chinese market and is not consistent with the billboards seen by the live audience.
At present, digital advertising technology is becoming more mature, and advertising languages seen in different regions are also different.
When the same game is broadcast in different countries and regions, the content displayed on the billboard is different, which means that the advertisements that the audience sees are more targeted, and the advertisements that can be displayed on the billboard are more. For the same brand, when Chinese fans saw the sideline advertisement written in Chinese, the Italian advertisement appeared in front of the Italian audience.
All this sounds amazing. Why do viewers in different regions see different billboard content under the same live TV broadcast? In fact, this is a digital advertising technology that has gradually entered mature applications-Virtual Advertising. The TV relay network can superimpose the advertising content on the sideline advertising enclosure on-site or during pre-recorded games. With this technology, advertisers can flexibly customize the content displayed on the advertising board according to their needs.
Virtual advertising technology first appeared in the United States. In 1995, Major League Baseball tried to use virtual advertising technology, which also caused a lawsuit over whether the advertising method was infringing. After entering the year 2000, with the full digitization of television technology, the use of virtual technology to present advertisements on television has become more and more mature.
Virtual advertisements can be subdivided into countries/regions or even smaller geographic areas.
Chinese audiences saw many Chinese advertisements appearing on the side billboards at this European Cup. In fact, these virtual advertisements are only placed on the TV screens of Chinese viewers. When watching live TV, viewers in other regions see the content of advertisements in other regions.
Don’t be surprised if one day you see a provincial or even local brand advertisement in a top European football league. This shows that the relevant virtual advertising technology has been implemented in China and can support personalized advertising content within the Chinese region.
In fact, this kind of regionally customized content or advertising has already existed in the Hollywood film industry. For example, the popular animated film "Zoo City", the TV host in different regions, starred by different animals, for example, North America is a The elk and Chinese version is a panda, the Australian version is a koala, the Brazilian version is a jaguar, the British version is a Corgi, and the Japanese version is a civet cat.
However, it is worth mentioning that China has indeed become the largest exporter of top sponsors in this European Cup. Among the 12 top sponsors announced on UEFA’s official website, Chinese companies have reached 4 seats, namely Hisense, Alipay, vivo, Tik Tok.
Outside of China, the country that contributed the most sponsors for this European Cup is the Netherlands, but there are "only" three: Heineken, takeaway online platform Takeaway.com and accommodation online platform Booking.com.
Although the language may be different, Chinese brands have indeed dominated the European Cup, demonstrating the ambition and ability of Chinese brands to enter the international market.
