NHL announces strategic partnership with MVP Index

NEW YORK -- The National Hockey League (NHL®) today announced MVP Index, a leading sponsorship measurement and valuation platform, will become the NHL's strategic partner for valuation and asset measurement for the League's award-winning Digitally Enhanced Dasherboards (DED) program.

DED, an advanced approach to dynamic dasherboard advertising, debuted at the start of the 2022-23 season and allows for the digital replacement of camera-visible arena dasherboards within local, national, and international NHL game broadcasts. MVP will use its specialized asset-first detection technology to pick up and provide precise, true, and reliable media and brand values for a logo, slogan, and image on DED signage.

"Following a successful first season of implementing DED across the League, we're now focused on continuing to evolve the technology and deliver more value and new sponsorship opportunities for the League, our Clubs and their media and business partners," said Keith Wachtel, NHL Chief Business Officer and Senior Executive Vice President. "Through MVP Index's trusted and innovative valuation technology, we will be able to provide more accurate valuations and asset measurement that will better align with brands and agencies expectations."

MVP has created a comprehensive and transparent methodology for DED valuations and asset management, which calculates the value of an asset shown on DED based on DED size, location, clutter, and signage duration, as well as overall event value where DED are placed. Additional valuation methodology includes static assets recognized and valued based on different camera angles alongside DED takeovers.

"The NHL's DED program is a truly transformative moment for the business of sports and entertainment," said Brian Foley, CEO of MVP Index. "The development and implementation of the DED system is a major milestone in the League's mission to provide powerful new activation opportunities for their current and future corporate partners, and it is vitally important to ensure DED are supported by a transparent system of measurement that's capable of delivering indisputable proof of value at a hyper-granular level. The League ran an extensive evaluation across the entire ecosystem of measurement providers in order to identify the right partner capable of meeting these high expectations, and we're thrilled that MVP was tapped to bring this vision to life."

NHL games on broadcast and streaming platforms will be scanned by MVP for assets, logos, and objects to provide DED valuations. On social media platforms Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter - images, captions, and text will also be scanned for assets, logos, and objects to define the value of a DED social media post, including engagement metrics (comments, shares, and likes) along with audience post metrics - followers and reach.

The DED technology solution is provided by Supponor, a world leading technology provider focused on raising standards for innovative commercial strategies through digital signage, and uses remote, Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based keying technology to program dasherboard advertising during game broadcasts by placing dynamic graphics over the camera-visible arena dasherboards. DED graphics can be displayed during games in a market-specific way wherever the game feed is broadcast resulting in dynamic and targeted branding and promotional messaging that was not previously achievable.

The NHL's DED solution allows for never-before-seen dynamic dasherboard branding and messaging featuring URLs, flighted marketing campaigns, co-branded official designations, social media integration, QR codes and more. Additionally, the DED display is programmable into multiple formats from a single-advertiser full-dasherboard takeover to a split zone format with ten advertisers brands. Among other advantages, the DED system allows for the opportunity for Clubs to provide their corporate partners and advertisers with this valuable exposure in both their home and away game broadcasts.