The NBA Finals this year was heavily sponsored by my old team at work, YouTube TV. The main commercial that they used featured a woman named Emily, who is a diehard basketball fan. Emily is shown skipping out on big family gatherings & events in order to catch the NBA Finals. She even brushes aside her own birthday celebration in order to keep her eyes focused on the ball.
Things are shown to be resolved after Emily gets YouTube TV. She no longer has to worry about missing NBA games because she can view them afterwards. The commercial ends by showing off a feature where you can view key plays + highlights and proudly proclaiming that Emily is on her own time now.
IMHO, the commercial doesn’t really make sense. For sports like basketball or soccer, streaming games live is extremely important. A big part of the excitement is generated from being on the edge of your seat about who is going to win. Of course, you can simulate the effect by muting all media and watching a recording afterwards, but it’s really not the same. Not to mention, for big matches (like Game 6 on Tuesday), blocking the results from reaching your ears can be unworldly difficult.
Another (small) pet peeve I have with the YouTube TV commercial is how a big part of its humor is based on stereotypes. The only thing that makes Emily endearing to the audience is the fact that she’s old, female and East Asian. If Emily had been a 20-something Caucasian male, the onscreen antics would’ve been seen as rude and the commercial wouldn’t really have worked.
Speaking of the NBA Finals, congratulations to the Milhauwkee Bucks for winning their first NBA championship in 50 years. I have to say, Giannis Antetokoumpo was truly overpowered.
