TGI SPORT, one of the global leader in sports virtual technology and commercial rights, in long-standing partnership with Lega Serie A Productions and the Lega Serie A Commercial & Marketing team, unveiled a series of innovations during the Coppa Italia final.
The highly anticipated clash between AC Milan and Bologna FC, broadcast live on 14 May to over 7 million viewers in Italy and distributed across 180 countries via 50 international broadcasters, marked the global debut of TGI Sport’s next-generation AIR Virtual Media technology. The event delivered comprehensive, multi-camera virtual advertising coverage across the entire live broadcast, a first in football history, per the official release.
AIR Virtual Media enables dynamic insertion of digital advertising assets such as virtual LED boards, goal mats, and centre-circle graphics, tailored by territory and audience, all without interrupting the live match experience. TGI Sport has powered Serie A’s virtual media strategy, with the last three years featuring AI-driven virtual feeds across all 380 league games. Until now, virtual enhancements were limited to the primary wide-angle (Camera 1) feed, leaving replays and secondary camera angles without consistent brand visibility.
That changed at the Coppa Italia final, where TGI Sport’s newly developed PMG version of AIR successfully virtualised not only the main feed but also replays and additional camera angles — ensuring complete, coherent brand coverage across the entire broadcast.
In another world-first, TGI Sport partnered with Serie A and domestic broadcaster Mediaset to pilot a synchronised hybrid advertising model. Viewers on Mediaset saw an on-screen ‘L-shape’ advert appearing simultaneously with virtual LED boards, featuring the same brand, creating a powerful reinforcement effect. This simultaneous execution, never before deployed in live football, represents a major advancement in ad recall, valuation, and creative cohesion.
Lega Serie A CEO Luigi De Siervo said, “Taking advantage of technological opportunities and constantly innovating is fundamental to maintain the high-quality level of our product. What we achieved with TGI Sport during the Coppa Italia Frecciarossa final as an absolute novelty in the world of football in terms of virtual advertising. Solutions that will allow us in the coming years to make the most of commercial spaces during matches and to create new and customised ones, increasing revenues and offering unprecedented opportunities to our Clubs and our Partners.”
TGI Sport global CEO Martin Jolly added, “Our mission is guided by three clear objectives: to grow revenue for rights holders, deliver greater ROI for advertisers and deepen engagement for audiences. Over the past decade, our partnership with Serie A has proven the value of this approach, but the next decade is about transformation. We aim to evolve the model entirely and elevate those principles to new heights. Last night was a significant step towards that.”
