Wednesday’s Philadelphia Phillies-New York Mets game was broadcast exclusively on Facebook, and it’s safe to say that the ordeal did not get rave reviews from those who watched.
Things got off to a bad start, as the game was delayed by rain for over an hour. There was nothing MLB or Facebook could have done about that, but things certainly got off to a rocky start once the broadcast got underway.
First, there were various complaints about the layout of the broadcast. Many found the graphics intrusive and the video of the actual game to be far too small.
Who the hell came up with this MLB on Facebook layout? Look at all of this space being wasted by graphics. No reason for the video to be this small. pic.twitter.com/rExGQb2nZn
— Rich MacLeod (@richmacleod) April 4, 2018
Obviously this looks better either on a bigger tablet, laptop or TV screen, but on a mobile, it’s a tough watch. pic.twitter.com/pJKih3s3DC
— Ken Fang (@fangsbites) April 4, 2018
To make matters worse, viewers were allowed to comment, and some of those comments were displayed on-screen. Many of them were negative.
— Zoo With Roy (@zoowithroy) April 4, 2018
People are loving this Facebook experiment!!! pic.twitter.com/EVZiZwh25t
— Franzke & LA (@FranzkeLA) April 4, 2018
Online streaming of sporting events isn’t new, but the difference here is that it’s a Facebook exclusive. By the looks of it, a lot of the bugs weren’t worked out ahead of time.
