It may also be inaccurate to call a commercial barrier in-picture during a sporting event a “recent trend.” They are here, they have been established, and as long as the broadcasters are in need of some extra revenue milk from the event whose rights are pointing to a more obscene amount of money they will stay. These are annoying, of course, just like any other ad, but I’ve come to the realization that they’re often going to be there after the kick-off in the NFL, after the icing on the NHL, during the free throw in. NBA, and MLB at-bats seemingly at random intervals (I think you can do that anytime in baseball).
The ruthless desire for efficiency that defines any company on this scale — leagues, networks, major advertisers — is an opportunity to place a bet on the next player to push or sneeze every knock or cranny visitor to change their insurer. . This is another annoying fact of the game that we all have to deal with if we are to see them. I’m probably too crazy to be actively obsessed with this development as a whole, but I find myself becoming more and more evaporated into a particularly repetitive feature of the NHL playoff telecast. These games take advantage of the whole picture-in-picture advertising strategy like any other picture, but in this case they are distracting you from the Stanley Cup playoffs and taking it to the … curse Stanley Cup playoffs!
Check it out from Game 4 of Cannes-Rangers last week. I’m looking double here!
It’s not just an ESPN thing, either. Here is TNT from Avs-Blues Game 6. Please note that the flames featured in the advertisement were dead and buried at this time.
They did the same ad with Dang Flames during Game 7 in Carolina on Monday:
Why? Why! Why. It would be a thing if these ads were hyping certain games to play in the next few days – a McKinnon-McDavid sizzle reel would not be out of place during Monday’s action – but it was just promoting the general idea of a Stanley Cup playoff. Anyone who’s been watching, and paying close attention to these ads, probably already knows about the Stanley Cup playoffs. Aiming at those who like your game, it is “please like my game”. If you don’t want to move fans towards a specific future broadcast, why is there something that they are watching to remind them of what they are watching?
I imagine that there must be some anti-bureaucratic argument, somewhere along the line, which has led to this result. A high-ranking person fell in love with these ads and wanted to show them as often as possible They booked a picture-in-picture spot but did not snatch a real sponsor for them. It is somewhere in the TV deal that each broadcast must include at least a few NHL vanity spots. Anyway, it’s dumb and annoying and the boundaries are degrading. The best possible advertisement for a hockey game is a hockey game. This league needs to stop feeling so needy.