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And here’s what happens when stupid watermarks are too big…

A Promo fail on ELEVEN last night...

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We can’t read the subtitles!

Yes ELEVEN sometimes shows actually have subtitles for foreign language, as American Horror Story did last night.

Seriously it’s 2015, subtitles are not new. This is Promo 101.

Watermarks used to be translucent for a reason.

As Alfagirl wrote in the TV Lounge: “I am currently watching American Horror Story Hotel but my enjoyment is being impeded by the massive 11 watermark and the advertising for Madame Secretary next to it. The start of the episode had subtitles which were partially obscured by the ad and watermark so I couldn’t read whole sentences. It’s driving me nuts. It’s 13cm wide.”

54 Responses

  1. What is the point of the watermark anyway? You are already tuned to the channel so you don’t need non-stop reminding to go there. When watermarks were first used they used to be a discreet small logo in one of the top corners. Even putting the WM back there would be an improvement.

  2. It’s bad enough for them to drive us crazy with watermarks and pop-ups on free to air. When you pay for Foxtel and have to put up with that crap it’s even worse. No wonder people are driven to download.

    Pop-ups in web browsers drove people mad and now pop-up blockers are turned on as standard with web browsers. I hope some day we can install pop-up blockers on our televisions.

  3. I watched something on TEN the other day with Closed Captions. We use them in our house because we have deaf people here. The captions were positioned in the centre of the screen vertically which meant they covered up most of the faces and action on the screen. Handy.

  4. And of course, do you think Ten/Eleven learned anything from this when they repeated it last night?

    Emblazoned across literally a third of the bottom of the screen was the word ‘Rewind’ and the channel logo, covering up a good chunk of the subtitles!

    Smacks of not giving an actual damn about their audience.

  5. Ten/Eleven basically sabotaged their show with this on screen clutter. With that and the (I suspect, a little more than was necessary) editing to bring it to a lower classification the impact of the program was largely lost.

  6. While over on Ten, at the end of TBL they did the reveal of the eliminated contestant’s weight loss. Old fat pants whipped away to reveal her new slim waistline…at least I assume so. I couldn’t actually see her waist because of the banner across the screen advertising something or other. Probably the Bachelorette.

  7. I’ve always been against these annoying watermarks. One instance was when a title appeared at the lower third of the screen and I couldn’t see what it was saying whatsoever!

  8. My pet peeve at the moment is the solid ‘watermark’ that 11 uses during The Late Show/Late Late Show to cover the rather non intrusive CBS watermark. Not only is it solid, it is so far in from the right of the screen (where a watermark may be been if broadcast in 4:3 aspect).

  9. This irksome watermark not only made the subtitles near impossible to read, but also obscured my view of Lady Gaga’s bum!
    Outrageous stuff from Ten/11!

  10. I’m glad you brought this up,David.I saw American Horror Story last night,and the watermark just drove me crazy.It spoiled the show for me because it was just so distracting.

  11. When I watched the last 10 mins. of Limitless…that water mark was continually on screen…although no subtitles in that show…still extremely distracting….
    I am at a point where TV is more annoying than enjoyment….*sigh*

  12. Southern Cross Television In Tasmania doesn’t have a Watermark at all they say there is no need for one and I am happy about that if only Win would get rid of that awful Win/Gem Watermark or at least reduce the size abit

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