Why is it that television companies allow advertisers to ruin their
sports coverage in search of a few sheckles more? Those of you who
remember last year’s World Cup will recall the ham-fisted efforts of ITV
and Vauxhall.
This time around, it was the satellite boys’ turn. I refer, of course,
to Sky’s coverage of the Ryder Cup.
Given the ’free’ nature of this pay-per-view event on Sky Box Office, I
would have thought that the viewer, through his/her subscription
charges, could have been spared the ridiculous visual spectacle of
Volkswagen ads throughout Saturday’s and Sunday’s coverage. Clearly some
innovative salesperson hiked the rate and sold it to VW’s buying
agency.
Does VW think that forcing me to sit through ad after ad showing its
range of cars while watching the competition will convince me or anybody
else to buy its vehicles?
Quite the opposite. The more initiated would also know that the Krauts
didn’t even have a representative in the European team.
Furthermore, what did the long-time Sky Sports broadcast sponsor, Ford,
get out of this? Not even a break bumper in the coverage.
When will they learn? This is yet another great sporting event
commercially mis-managed. It’s a shame as Sky is generally excellent,
and has really set the standards in sports coverage.
Perhaps it just took its eye off the ball on this one, much like the
European captain, Mark James (maybe that’s a tad unfair).
