METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR PROVIDING A VISUAL
PRESENTATION The present invention relates to a method of and apparatus for providing a. visual presentation. The invention is particularly, although not exclusively, concerned with television coverage of sports events.
Sporting events are widely televised. This earns considerable revenue for the organisers and promoters of the sporting events. A significant proportion of this revenue is generated through sale of advertising exposure on the television coverage.
Advertising is incorporated into sports coverage in a variety of ways. Examples include commercial breaks interspersed into the coverage, sponsoring of the coverage, and sponsoring of competitors and teams participating in the sport. From a commercial point of view it is important to carefully control the amount and the manner of advertising included in coverage to both maintain the quality of coverage of the sport for viewers and yet be able to offer high value and appropriate advertising to advertisers and sponsors. From an entertainment perspective, it is important to enhance the content of sports programming for the audience through the use of software to display graphics and information on screen.
An advantage of televised coverage of sport over viewing a sporting event live is that programme producers are able to include action replay sequences within the coverage. Originally an action replay sequence simply consisted of a replay, possibly at a reduced speed, of a part of the coverage of an event of particular interest to viewers, for example the scoring of a goal in a soccer match, or winners crossing the finishing line in a running race. Now however action replay sequences may comprise sophisticated enhanced replay of action. An example of a currently available system is that marketed under the trade mark SIMULCAM by Dartfish of Switzerland, who also
provide a number of other software tools for enhancing televised sports coverage. The SIMULCAM software system enables one moving image of an athlete (for example a. skier) to be overlaid over another in order to compare different styles and performances during an event. It is an object of the present invention to provide a further way to include advertising exposure in a visual presentation, particularly televised coverage of sports events.
According to an aspect of the present invention there is provided a method of providing a visual presentation comprising making a visual presentation comprising first and second types of presentation and during said second type of presentation displaying information identifying an advertiser and/or sponsor.
According to another aspect of the invention there is provided apparatus for providing a visual presentation comprising means for generating a visual presentation comprising first and second types of presentation and means for displaying information relating to an advertiser and/or sponsor during said second type of presentation.
The invention thus enables an advertiser and/or sponsor to be associated with a particular aspect of the presentation. This provides for controlled periodic exposure of the sponsor's identity whilst allowing the sponsor to be associated with a particularly relevant part of the coverage. The information relating to the advertiser or sponsor is preferably only associated with the second type of presentation.
The visual presentation preferably comprises a television programme, particularly televised coverage of a live event such as a sports event. The first type of
presentation preferably comprises live coverage, or a recording of live coverage replayed in real time, that is to say to reproduce live coverage. The second type of
presentation preferably comprises an action replay sequence and/or some otherwise modified coverage. Action replay sequence means replay of coverage of any earlier part of the event being covered than that last shown in the first type of coverag e . whether or not that earlier part of the event was previously shown as live or recodecd coverage. For example where an event is covered using multiple television cameras, different views of the event taken at the same time using two cameras could be shown sequentially. In this case the second view shown would be regarded as an action replay.
Other possible modifications include, but are not limited to, altering the speed of the replay to a speed other than its original, adding additional images such as graphics, combining two or more images, showing coverage in reverse and using software driven techniques to enhance coverage such as by provision of incident lenses or on screen graphics and information . The modification adds value to the coverage, making it a desirable part of the overall coverage for a sponsor to associate itself with, a viewer's perception being that the sponsor has some involvement in making the action replay.
The information relating to an advertiser and/or sponsor may comprise a trade mark. The information may be shown during all or part of the second type of presentation. The advertising information preferably accompanies additional information identifying the second type of presentation, and may alternate with this information. This reinforces the apparent association of an advertiser with the second type of presentation. The advertising information may be comprised in a symbol which may comprise a logo associated with the covered event and/or broadcaster providing coverage of the event.
Embodiments of the present invention convey considerable commercial advantages. Implementation of the invention typically involves an association between holders of rights in events, such as sporting events, providers of technology to enhance coverage of events, broadcasters of coverage of events and a sponsor. Funding from the sponsor pays for the provision of enhanced coverage of the events such as the provision of replay sequences, on screen graphics displaying competitors' names and speeds and otherwise enhanced coverage. This provides enhanced entertainment for the audience rewarding the rights holders, broadcasters and sponsors. The whole packing is susceptible to being branded itself, making it a marketable package to rights holders in events.
In order that the invention may be more clearly understood an embodiment thereof will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings of which:
Figure 1 is a schematic view of apparatus according to the invention; Figure 2 is a view of a first part of televised coverage of a sporting event; Figure 3a is a view of a second part of televised coverage of the sporting event; Figures 3b - d are views of a symbol displayed with the coverage shown in
Figure 3 a; and
Figure 4 is a view of a third part of televised coverage of the sporting event. Referring to figure 1 apparatus for coverage of a sporting event comprises television cameras 1 providing images to an editing means 2. The editing means comprises appropriate hardware and software to choose between provided images and
prepare and generate action replay sequences including a logo described below, all under control of a producer/director. Such equipment is readily available and as such need not be described further. The editing means provides an output for transmission and subsequent receipt and display on a television receiver 3. Referring to figures 2 to 4 coverage of a running race comprises a first portion of live coverage 4. This is followed by a replay 5 of part of this portion of coverage. When the replay starts a logo 6 appears with the image of the event. The logo comprises a first section 7 at the left hand side containing a logo identifying the sport. A second larger section 8 at the right hand side initially shows a logo associated with the action replay (shown in figure 3b). This section then appears to rotate (shown in figure 3c) to reveal the name or other trademark of a sponsor (shown in figure 3d). The logo 6 then disappears after a predetermined time.
During the replay sequence additional software generated information 10 regarding the competitors' performance is displayed on screen, such as race times, heart rates and the like.
After the replay sequence is completed the coverage reverts to live coverage 9. The above embodiment is described by way of example only. Many variations are possible without departing from the invention.