The NHL and GoPro announced this week that they’ve reached a content sharing deal that will bring point-of-view footage to promos and broadcasts across the league starting this season.
Several of the league’s stars were outfitted with GoPro’s cameras on their helmets and jerseys during the NHL/NHLPA Player Media Tour this offseason, and the footage captured will be used to give a better look at what players see from their perspective on the ice.
From AdWeek:
The NHL will use GoPro’s POV footage in promo campaigns for the new season starting Oct. 8. The league’s two national TV partners—NBC Sports in the U.S. and Rogers in Canada—will also weave clips into game telecasts to illustrate the shooting, stickhandling and skating skills of NHL stars, said Bob Chesterman, NHL’s svp of programming.
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If a player filmed by GoPro scores this season, NBC or Rogers can illustrate what they saw on the play by cutting to taped footage from the commercial shoot, said Brian Jennings, NHL’s CMO. The league will also feature the POV content on NHL Network and NHL.com, while GoPro will use it on its YouTube channel.
We’ve seen GoPro infiltrate other major sports already, so it shouldn’t come as a huge shock that they’re coming to NHL. In fact, it’s not exactly foreign territory for the company:
As an NHL fan, I’m excited about the prospect of what the partnership can bring to viewers such as myself. POV footage is always a unique look at the game for those of us who are not nearly talented or athletic enough to know for ourselves, and I’m hoping that it can be incorporated into real game action sooner rather than later.
