Parallel Ads boosts revenue options for The FA Cup Final overseas
Thursday, May 13, 2021 - 09:55
Print This Story
Parallel Ads will be a feature of the FA Cup Final broadcast this weekend
Dynamic advertising solution Parallel Ads will be a feature of the FA Cup Final broadcast this weekend, just as it was for the semi-finals. It's a high-profile application which technology inventor Appario Global Solutions (AGS) hopes will be a launchpad for even wider adoption.
What we are doing with the FA will build trust of our solution among other productions, says Max von Braun, founder, AGS.
The solution is based on the patented Dynamic Content Multiplication (DCM) technology that can also provide similar benefits to music and other live events as well as studio productions. As opposed to a virtual overlay, which creates a new advertisement in post-processing, the DCM technology enables rights holders to broadcast up to four simultaneous feeds for event-based LED advertising from a single camera, and tailor these ads to different markets. Anyone present in the stadium will only be able to detect the venue feed/naked eye, whilr Parallel Ads (PADS) content is captured by the camera and displayed in real time.
While the technology works with more conventional rolling shutters, it is optimised for live system cameras with a global shutter. Currently, that narrows the choice to cameras from Sony, including the HDC-5500 which has native 3x UHD CMOS sensors and incorporates global shutter technology.
When we hide' information on an LED screen it's important that you can't see this with the naked eye otherwise it would be visually distracting, says von Braun. The faster and more precise the PADS timing, the better. With a rolling shutter the image will appear correctly synchronised within more than three milliseconds of exposure, but running a global shutter reduces this to a fraction of that exposure time.
This works even when operated with super slow motion. Within a production frame we need to show the content six or eight times without being interrupted by alternate signals. A global shutter allows us to run more sophisticated timings and allows for that.
The NFL is testing the system from Parallel Ads
Wembley workflow
The FA Cup semis are a complex affair involving three different broadcast service providers over a weekend. Arena TV partnered with BBC Sport for the first semi-final on Saturday 17 April before Telegenic and BT Sport took charge of Sunday's match which entailed a, complete change over, rip out and install .
Fortunately, the FA works with Gravity Media to produce the host international feed for all matches.
They have their own unit, like a unilateral broadcast feed, and they manage the signals we create on site, says von Braun.
The host feed is transferred to Gravity's remote broadcast centre at Chiswick for the addition of graphics and audio mix before onward distribution via BT Tower. A similar workflow, using just the one main centre pitch camera (HDC-5500), is in place for the final at Wembley.
Our solution fundamentally broadens the horizons of rights holders, allowing them to engage with different sponsors simultaneously or tailor sponsored content to each market
AGS is producing three feeds for Gravity's production in addition to the standard UK and rest of world feed: one for MENA, another for Asia and one for Europe excluding the UK.
Synchronisation is done by configuring the camera settings with the LED board. No additional hardware is required. Once a camera is synchronised to PADS, the multiple feeds are directly available in the vision mixer. We do this by connecting a reference signal of the host broadcaster to the LED playout system to ensure the identical clocking. The referencing of the host broadcaster's cameras stays untouched.
All this takes 45 minutes at the most and more likely just 20 minutes. Once the signal is set it can stay unchanged for weeks, he says.
The client is free to synchronise as many angles as they wish, including slow-motion shots and highlights.
Hologram to LED
PADS came about after von Braun began exploring how to create 3D holograms for viewing glasses-free. He tried to bring the technology to market in 2015 and found that transferring some of the basics of it to 2D LED was an easier first step. He realised that there was latent demand for a solution to producing multiple simultaneous ads in live sports, reworked the idea into Parallel Ads and founded AGS in Switzerland in 2016.
I had no background in broadcast or sport, I was just a pure technician, but we quickly found interest from content providers like Infront Media and from soccer clubs in Germany who wanted to deploy with us.
That sparked interested from TGI Sport, a subsidiary of QMS Sport Holdings, to license DCM exclusively worldwide. That deal was signed just before Covid hit but since then - during the pandemic - AGS has rolled out PADS to 70 events.
The biggest to date was for the five-week return to action of the MLS from its base in Florida. The MLS is Back tournament took place inside the league's bubble at ESPN's Wide World of Sports in Orlando last July. The PADS technology delivers two 18-camera feeds across the US and Canada for all 44 matches.
We were able to work with Sony HDC-2500s since PADS deploys on older camera systems such as these, says von Braun.
He says there is no additional cost whether you run one or 20-plus cameras with Parallel Ads during the same event. The client is free to synchronise as many angles as they wish, including slow-motion shots and highlights.
In contrast to virtual solutions, external environmental factors such as rain, fog or snow will not impact visual output. Likewise, cameras do not need to be static, making drones a possibility.
We are clo
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
When Canada qualified for the FIFA World Cup 2026, OneSoccer knew this wasn'...
04/07/2026
Celebrates company's 80th anniversary
Rhodes have recently revealed that they will be producing a limited run of electric pianos in celebration of their...
04/07/2026
Blackmagic Design Cameras Empower Youth Broadcasting Program
Brie Clayton July 3, 2026
0 Comments
Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 6K Pro and Blackmagi...
04/07/2026
iZotope Joins Boris FX
Boris Yamnitsky July 3, 2026
0 Comments
iZotope, the team behind RX and Ozone, is joining Boris FX. A letter from founder Boris...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
03/07/2026
New bundle & three Single Packs
Continuing to expand their already sizeable orchestral collection, VSL's latest release introduces three new Single Pack...
03/07/2026
Venue installs new ATC-equipped control room
LSO St Luke's, a unique music venue that also serves as the home of the London Symphony Orchestra, have rec...
03/07/2026
Caden Pearson appointed new Commissioning Editor for NITV
3 July, 2026
Media releases
National Indigenous Television (NITV) has strengthened its commitment...
03/07/2026
1 February 2023
SHARE Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email
Munich, Germany, 1st February 2023: Cinegy GmbH, the premier provider of software technology for digit...
03/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
03/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
03/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
03/07/2026
Death Star
Andy Marken July 2, 2026
0 Comments
Look, I can't get involved. I've got work to do. It's not that I like the Empire; I hate i...
03/07/2026
Berklee's New Visual Identity: Honoring Our History, Building for What's...
03/07/2026
Scripps Research scientists awarded $2M to advance global disease surveillance Two Gates Foundation grants will expand wastewater surveillance and AI-driven dis...
03/07/2026
Joan Pulupa joins Scripps Research faculty to study the organization of DNA in brain cells and its links to neurodegeneration Using smell-sensing neurons and ad...
02/07/2026
Entering her senior year, this hometown girl is paving a career in live sports production gaining experience in replay and audio and as a TD
In the live-sports...
02/07/2026
In-venue and creative video staffers at the professional and collegiate level ha...
02/07/2026
BLAST, a competitive entertainment company focused on esports, has announced more than $133 million in revenue for 2025, representing more than 40% year-over-ye...
02/07/2026
Riedel Communications has announced official SKAARHOJ panel support for SimplyLive production workflows, enabled through the SimplyLive 2.1 release. The integra...
02/07/2026
The Fire Rescue Service of the Czech Republic has deployed LiveU video-over-bond...
02/07/2026
Gravity Media USA has announced the appointment of Brittney Boston as Head of Business Development, effective July 1, 2026. Based in Nashville, Tennessee, Bosto...
02/07/2026
TwelveLabs, a video intelligence company, has announced $100 million in Series B funding co-led by NEA and NAVER Ventures, with participation from Amazon, Radic...
02/07/2026
The Pro Padel League (PPL) has announced a broadcast partnership with USA Sports that will air five PPL championship matches on CNBC during the 2026 season, the...
02/07/2026
LiveLike, a digital fan engagement platform, has announced eight confirmed FIFA ...
02/07/2026
Cobalt Digital has received Future's Best of Show Award, presented by AV Technology at InfoComm 2026, for its blueCORE family of standalone signal processor...
02/07/2026
Synamedia has announced the appointment of Dr. Tzvi Gerstl as Chief Executive Officer. Paul Segre, who has served as CEO for the past six years, will transition...
02/07/2026
The Esports Foundation (EF) and Sony Group Corporation have announced an expanded collaboration for the Esports World Cup 2026 (EWC), taking place in Paris, Fra...
02/07/2026
Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. ( Z') has announced exclusive broadcast and digital rights for the Bundesliga in India for five years, beginning with the...
02/07/2026
An effort uniting News, Sports, Local, and Telemundo, the 50+-camera live produc...
02/07/2026
Zoey Deutch, John Slattery, Ken Marino, Miles Gutierrez-Riley, and Ben Wang appe...
02/07/2026
Stammering, stuttering, strangulated tones
The Crow Hill Company's latest creation promises to be the most original sound set they've produced to d...
02/07/2026
A new era in unmixing and spectral editing
The latest version of Steinberg's spectral audio-editing software has just arrived, building on the strength...
02/07/2026
Aims to simplify additive synthesis
Sine Machine is the debut launch from Melatonin, a Vienna-based developer who have spent the past six years creating wha...
02/07/2026
Products to remain fully active & supported
Following the news of Native Instruments joining the inMusic brand line-up, Academy and Emmy Award-winning visua...
02/07/2026
What you missed!
Last weekend, Saturday 27 June 2026, saw the debut of Sound On Sounds new GearExpo UK event, the largest dedicated pro-audio event to take ...
02/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
02/07/2026
Following the successful launch of its inaugural APAC Mentoring Programme last month, the Rise AV APAC Regional Council will bring the conversation around mento...
02/07/2026
Blackmagic PYXIS 6K Used to Shoot Director Takahisa Zeze's Cry Out
Brie Clayton July 2, 2026
0 Comments
Highly mobile camera supports tense and de...
02/07/2026
Broadcast Solutions acquires BFE, expanding its lead in European broadcast, medi...
02/07/2026
Berklee Alum and Faculty Perform at Boston Public Library's 250th Anniversar...
02/07/2026
Broadcast Solutions GmbH, a leading systems integrator and provider of innovative solutions for the broadcast media industry, is acquiring BFE Studio und Medien...
02/07/2026
Cinegy GmbH, the premier provider of software-defined television technology, has extended the ingest facility at leading Brazilian sports company LiveMode, work...
02/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
02/07/2026
Standalone processors acknowledged for the innovation and value they bring to Pro AV
Cobalt Digital, a leading designer and manufacturer of signal processing ...
02/07/2026
Synamedia announced today the appointment of Dr Tzvi Gerstl as Chief Executive Officer. Paul Segre, who has served as CEO for the past six years, will transitio...
Parallel Ads boosts revenue options for The FA Cup Final overseas 
