Supponor, the UK technology company, has announced the long-term extension of its strategic partnership with Spanish sports rights and production agency Mediapro.
The extension involves Mediapro “completing the transition to Supponor’s AIR technology,” which allows the firm to deploy virtual advertising hoardings and “virtual cam carpets” at 358 matches from Spanish men’s soccer’s top-tier LaLiga each season. Up to 12 virtually-enabled feeds can be distributed globally, each featuring different advertisements from these LEDs.
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Supponor AIR is deployed remotely from Mediapro’s virtual master control room in Barcelona, Spain, during all LaLiga fixtures, “supporting virtual operations in up to ten concurrent games.” Mediapro first adopted it during the 2021-22 LaLiga season.
The overall partnership between the two parties began a decade ago, and Supponor said it has “delivered the successful rollout of commercially valuable virtual advertising technologies, crucial in driving innovation for LaLiga and its brand partners.”
The last partnership extension was announced in March 2020.
Supponor AIR was launched commercially in 2021 and is used by top-tier soccer properties such as Italy’s Serie A and Germany’s Bundesliga.
Massimo Magri, global head of soccer and managing director for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa at Supponor, said: “Mediapro is our longest-serving client and strategic partner at the same time, so we are extremely pleased to commit to a second decade of mutually successful partnership together. Together with Mediapro, we will be expanding our collaboration to multiple sports properties in Spain and beyond.”
Two months ago, Supponor appointed Simon Green, the former head of major UK pay-TV broadcaster BT Sport, as its new chief operating officer.
Julian Fernandez, chief commercial officer at Mediapro, added: “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.”
Earlier this month, Mediapro accused the Spanish RFEF governing body for soccer of “covering up” a one-year extension for its current video assistant referee (VAR) services provider.
