The ad-pocalypse is upon us, and it’s taking place at the World Series.
yeah, everybody hates it. pic.twitter.com/l3honqq3JI
— Deadspin (@Deadspin) October 25, 2017
As Deadspin so artfully noted on Twitter during Game 1 of the Dodgers-Astros matchup, “yeah, everybody hates it.” What they were referring to was the YouTube TV advertising placement directly behind home plate, which makes your television screen appear to have a red YouTube “player” button on it. Needless to say, it’s extremely distracting, and is taking the fun out of the action in the batter’s box.
NBC Sports’ Craig Calcaterra agrees with us. He also bemoans the mid-inning, split-screen ads that Fox has already tested during NFL games. The last straw, however, is the naming convention for the actual game: It’s not simply “the World Series” anymore, it’s “the World Series presented by YouTube TV.” And to make matters worse, MLB.com’s baseball writers are using the latter to refer to the series, hence providing YouTube TV with “in-story advertising,” which calls into question the integrity of the editorial.
What strikes us as particularly interesting about Calcaterra’s opinion piece is that however hard he tries to dial back his hatred for in-game advertising, what he’s doing is slamming an advertiser that is working with NBC. And that smacks of exactly what ESPN’s Jemele Hill tweeted about in reference to Jerry Jones, which got her suspended for two weeks.
Don’t hold your breath for a reciprocal slap on the wrist.
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