PVI, Fox Sports And Ford Debut Animated Virtual Advertising
Princeton Video Image, Inc. (PVI) and FOX Sports presented the first dynamic animated virtual advertisements on a live national U.S. broadcast. The ads debuted during the FOX NFL pre-game show on Sunday, September 22, 2002. Using the same technology as PVI's well-known Virtual First Down Line, which appears on NFL and college football broadcasts allowing viewers at home to see a "virtual chalk line" on the field, the three 10-second ads featured Ford F-250 Super Duty trucks rolling on to Ford Field in Detroit and interacting with the field and the stadium in different ways. While stadium patrons saw nothing but an empty football field, viewers at home saw the Ford trucks bolting through a non-existent door at the mouth of the players tunnel, pulling a large roll of steel across the field, and uprooting a section of the stadiums stands to reveal the "Built Ford Tough" logo. PVI has also provided virtual ads for ESPNs Sunday Night Baseball and ABCs broadcast of the Indianapolis 500.