A “true star emerged” in former MLBer Barry Bonds, who made his debut as an on-air analyst during Netflix’s pre- and postgame shows for Wednesday’s Yankees-Giants Opening Night game at Oracle Park, according to G. Allen Johnson of the S.F. CHRONICLE. Bonds, in “good humor and engaging throughout the telecast,” even alluded to his “famously prickly personality” alongside host Elle Duncan and fellow former MLBers Albert Pujols and Anthony Rizzo. Johnson noted networks have “been trying to sign Bonds to a broadcast contract for years.” Beyond Bonds, Netflix’s first foray into baseball “was mostly solid.” The booth, led by Matt Vasgersian was “skilled and efficient.” Elle Duncan was “flawless as the pre- and postgame host.” Johnson wrote one “bright spot, unlikely to be appreciated by baseball purists but was perfect for the Netflix vibe,” was Giants QB Jameis Winston. He was an “unexpected delight during the broadcast,” playing the role of “enthusiastic fan and class clown.” Johnson: “If the partnership between MLB and Netflix is to expand baseball’s fan base, then Winston understood the assignment” (S.F. CHRONICLE, 3/26).
DOING TOO MUCH: Radio host Dan Patrick said, “It’s easy to criticize Netflix for trying too hard, and they did try too hard (Wednesday) night. But when you have bells and whistles, you want to showcase that. You want to wow the audience. … It was just too much Netflix. It was as if I was tuning into a Power Point on Netflix and there was a baseball game inside of that. Like, ‘Look at all the things we do.’ And you’re kind of going, ‘I’m kind of here to watch the baseball game.’ Netflix is here to sell you on Netflix. But this happens on (ESPN) or NBC or Fox or CBS” (“The Dan Patrick Show,” 3/26).
FEELING FORCED: In Boston, Tim Healey writes his biggest questions following Netflix’s presentation were: “Who was that for? Did it make non-fans more likely to watch baseball? Or convince baseball fans to watch any of the many Netflix shows wedged into the production?” This is a partnership that “might lead to a bigger deal with MLB down the line. So I at least can understand some kiss-up-ery, but they took it to an extreme degree.” Healey: “Hopefully, as Netflix settles in as a sports broadcaster, it gets comfortable showing us baseball, as opposed to something that is painfully Baseball Being Watched On Netflix” (BOSTON GLOBE, 3/27).
IF IT AIN’T BROKE, DON’T FIX IT: Radio host Dan Le Batard said baseball fans “do not like their product bleeped with” and people are “mad at Netflix because it’s not a traditional broadcast.” Bert Kreischer “really annoyed people” and Le Batard admitted putting the comedian on the broadcast “is not something I would do.” He said, “If Dennis Miller and Tony Kornheiser don’t work on the ‘Monday Night Football’ broadcast and you think that is some kind of sacred, a comedian around baseball is just simply not going to work given what the customer base is” (“The Dan Le Batard Show,” 3/26).
NOT SO DIFFERENT? PUCK’s John Ourand wrote when you “strip away all the public displays of eventization, Netflix’s first MLB telecast felt like pretty much any other baseball game on network television.” In fact, when Netflix tried to sell its baseball package to advertisers, the company “quickly discovered that the market felt the same way.” Ourand: “According to a half-dozen sales executives I spoke with, advertisers were generally not persuaded by the streamer’s pitch that baseball’s first game of the season qualified as a big event.” The market “broadly viewed the game as merely the first of 2,430 in the regular season -- a drop of water in a sea of tonnage.” One ad buyer said, “There’s not a single advertiser across this business that’s going to desperately need to be in this Opening Night game. For Netflix, this is an event. But in reality, it’s not, especially since tomorrow there are 11 games we could buy.” Ourand noted several of the ads that appeared during the game were “make-goods for partners due to the streamer’s failure to gin up the viewership it had promised for those NFL Christmas games” (PUCK, 3/26).
