NBC revealed Thursday it has already taken in $1.25 billion in advertising revenue for the Paris Olympics, leading some fans to wonder why the network couldn’t have invested a tiny bit into better graphics.
Fans have called out the network’s graphics during several events thus far. But some seemed especially irritated Friday by graphics showing celebrities in the crowd. Captions for icons such as Bill Gates, Spike Lee and Bob Costas were displayed with white lettering in blue boxes.
The problem: the names were left-justified, rather than centered.
It might seem like a trivial, petty issue to complain about, in an Olympics that has featured several notable controversies in the first week, from the opening ceremony to questions about athletes’ eligibility.
But fans can be awfully passionate about things like scorebugs and other graphics.
Anger the graphic designer in your life by showing them NBC’s graphics for celebrities at the Olympics pic.twitter.com/U0FlJ7LAMK
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) August 2, 2024
Kyle Benjamin spoke for many viewers irritated by the graphics.
“Why aren’t they centered?” he posted on X.
WHY ARENT THEY CENTERED https://t.co/pXI1rj5AFB
— Kyle Benjamin (@Kyle_BenjaminTV) August 2, 2024
nbc keeps showing celebs in the crowd at gymnastics and putting their name up on the screen, BUT THE NAMES AREN’T CENTERED IN THE BOXES. IT’S MAKING ME FEEL CRAZY. pic.twitter.com/FMpPIrAZtE
— lindsey marie (@thekuhlest) August 2, 2024
https://t.co/pWXhdtdDU7 pic.twitter.com/DJVLM1MpTr
— Rob Slater (@RobSlater10) August 2, 2024
Finally…a reason to be outraged by the Olympics
— Panda (@thepandamancan) August 2, 2024
Give ‘em a break. Graphics dept. doing this on the fly. What? Are celebrities suppose to get glitter, stars & blinking neon font? 🙄
— Karl’s Still Here (@KarlGrafxguy) August 2, 2024
As noted, this is not the first complaint about NBC’s graphics during the Olympics. Earlier, fans cited issues during swimming events.
Hey @NBCOlympics: We swim fans really would like to see the swimmer’s turns and underwater, but your graphics keep covering them up at Primetime. And not all of us can watch the raw feed during the day!
— John Gotaskie (@JGotaskie) August 2, 2024
Some funny things have been happening with the #Swimming graphics.
Why did the broadcast of the men’s 400IM show Olympic Record (rather than World Record) at each turn? Even with a WR line displayed? Also confused the commentators.
Never seen OR splits shown before. pic.twitter.com/Kzxl053eCV
— InsightLane (@insightlane) July 28, 2024
[@thekuhlest on X/Twitter]
About Arthur Weinstein
Arthur spends his free time traveling around the U.S. to sporting events, state and national parks, and in search of great restaurants off the beaten path.