TORONTO — The NHL's reintroduction of the World Cup of Hockey has provided fans a glimpse of the action to come in the season ahead. For the two-week tournament, the league managed to set some sizable goals for earning revenue. Through TV rights, merchandise sales, in-game advertisements and more, the NHL has set a new bar in their level of advertising exposure through innovation and technology.

When the World Cup of Hockey was announced in 2015, estimates suggested up to $130 million in profits could be made via corporate sponsorships, TV rights, and ticket and merchandise sales. For a tournament that had not run since 2004 — and had a lot less exposure at the time — the $130 million mark seemed questionable.

After all, the 2004 World Cup of Hockey only made $4 million. How could the NHL surpass the $100 million mark?

The first step involved securing television rights. Because Rogers Communications and the NHL are locked into a 12-year deal to broadcast all Canadian NHL games, it was no surprise that the tournament would air on Sportsnet, and TVA Sports for French viewers in Quebec. However, the NHL also teamed up with ESPN to broadcast the tournament to American viewers. This partnership marked the first time since 2004 that live hockey was shown on ESPN.

Because NBC Sports is currently under contract to broadcast regular-season games in the States, the tournament marked a momentous, albeit short, return to ESPN. However, ESPN's presence was felt in Toronto as much as it was felt on the air. Camera crews were set up outside the Air Canada Centre (where the tournament was being held) to interview fans and revel in the enthusiasm.

In my last piece, I spoke with San Antonio, Texas, native Frank Humada, who had been interviewed by ESPN. The ideal candidate for their interview, his voice represented the American viewers who may have never grown up watching hockey, but were getting into the sport via this tournament as a way of supporting their country.

With the World Cup of Hockey airing on ESPN, the broadcast team was equally important. Known SportsCenter anchors, reporters and hockey insiders worked with Hockey Hall of Famers Chris Chelios and Brett Hull to provide insight and analysis for each game. Having those past greats on hand helped legitimize ESPN's hand in the tournament, as their names and legacies provided viewers with some recognition of the NHL's former heyday on ESPN.

With the broadcasting rights secured, it was time for the NHL to focus on what it was putting on the air — the games. Rumours of ads on players' jerseys had been floating around since 2014, but the World Cup of Hockey marked the first time that ads were implemented.

When the tournament was announced, the starting price for ads on jerseys was set at $8 million. One of the league's corporate sponsors, SAP, won the bid as official sponsor of the jerseys and had its logo featured on the shoulders of player-worn jerseys in the tournament. Corporate logos on jerseys aren't here to stay just yet — the tournament provided the league with a chance to see how ads on jerseys fared, and if they could be done tastefully.

Inside the arena was more corporate advertising, but with a twist. Hockey fans are familiar with the advertisements on the boards of their favourite team's arena — they often feature fast food restaurants, national banks or athletic brands. For the World Cup of Hockey, the NHL used CGI ads to cover the ads seen by fans in the arena, so that fans watching a game on TV would see a different sponsor's logo.

Currently, in a regular season game, a company's ad is one of many. The Globe and Mail reported that for the World Cup of Hockey, the NHL "sold a certain number of guaranteed total minutes on the boards, broken up into increments from a few seconds to more than a minute."

During that time, one company would be the only company featured — their logo or message would be repeated along the boards of the 200-foot ice rink. An average ad among several other brands only takes up 13-14 feet, so the real estate monopoly with this CGI opportunity was especially enticing for advertisers.

The tournament's sponsors, such as Honda, Pizza Pizza, Pepsi and Lays, all had their share of board space to market their products. A month before the tournament began, Sports Business Daily reported that over $25 million in sponsorship revenue had been earned.

With all the branded merchandise popping up on store shelves, that number was sure to grow.

In a more traditional marketing move, Pepsi and Lays partnered with Team Canada defenseman Drew Doughty to promote their chips and soft drinks as a perfect pair for snacking. Bags of Lays chips featured the Team Canada logo, and limited edition tall cans of Pepsi with all eight tournament teams' flags were released at grocery stores nationwide, along with a cardboard cutout of Doughty.

Where do we go from here? I spoke with digital marketing specialist Melissa Savage, who touted display advertising's expansion in the world of marketing.

"It's a very simple way for advertisers or marketers to determine a desired audience, build a way to target them and reach them wherever they are going online, whether it be desktop or mobile," Savage said.

eMarketer states that this year alone, American programmatic display ad spending will reach $25.23 billion.

Savage pointed out that metrics make it even easier to track success rates and optimization levels, since it's difficult to understand the interaction/response rate of a billboard or giant hockey puck around the city.

I wondered if this would work for TV audiences of this year's World Cup of Hockey. If advertisers knew how many viewers tuned in, could they use those numbers to their advantage? Savage says it could work in theory, but not to the same extent as display advertising.

Instead, she pointed at the growth of programmatic advertising across TVs — using "the data from your phone/tablet to pinpoint your location and likes, dislikes, etc. and serve those to your smart TV." While sponsors are currently promoting their own products along the boards, future CGI ads could reflect those of viewers' personal online searches.

Could this be another avenue to look into four years from now, when the next World Cup of Hockey rolls around?

As the tournament draws to a close, it can be seen that the NHL has succeeded at boosting their levels of exposure, in terms of television viewership, as well as through corporate sponsorship. The World Cup of Hockey has served as a test run for future marketing techniques — some which could be implemented in the near future.

Four years from now, jersey ads or CGI branding along the boards could be commonplace. More advertising innovations could even be in the works. Time and technology will tell.