EQU9 RDR
Well I surmised that was the reason why there were so very few equestrian events on the major channels, but my local cable company won’t even respond to my request for the Horse channel, But there is lots of beach volleyball, replays of football games, all that male interest stuff
I wrote my cable company asking for the Horse channel, and they wrote back a very nice email saying “we already have Horse Racing TV!” heh
I’ve been taping the coverage on USA and OXYGEN and have almost filled one tape. That’s almost six hours worth so far, and we’re barely out of Eventing.
I agree that a “form letter” is not the way to go. However, if some media-savvy person would list some “talking points” (forgive the mediaspeak) that we could re-word in our individual letters, it might garner us a bit more attention.
From what I can tell, the only thing that the mass media is motivated by is $$$ and their political agendas.
Oh, and ditch the cable! Get satellite!
Even my husband is sick of beach volleyball. It came on last night and he said “turn it off–not going to spend another evening watching this!”
It’s a great idea to tune into the Equestrian as much as possible, however, in many areas it is simply not possible to tune in. In my region, there is no Oxygen channel. Cable company doesn’t carry it.
I work at a large university veterinary clinic–LOTS of people here would like to watch some equestrian on their computers–guess what? We’re still using Windows 2000 here, and the videos don’t work with that.
We’ve got a whole region here in Michigan who wants to watch and can’t!
Then, on top of that, the other events that I want to watch (gymnastics) are being broadcast after 10:00 p.m. I work every day, as do most of the other people I know. I can’t stay up late and be effective at work.
So, in spite of that fact that there is supposedly so much more coverage this year, I’m seeing less Olympics than I ever have in the past. I’m really not a very happy camper this year.
It’s a good thing in your letters to mention sponsors by name and that you went out and bought their product based on their support of Equestrian. Now I can’t buy a Rolex, but if there’s a commercial for Tide or Coca-Cola or cereal or chewing gum, go buy some and tell the networks you did that BECAUSE they advertised in your sport.
:yes:It’s all about the money.
I work in online advertising for a major newspaper. Sadly sometimes it’s the advertisers that drive the content of our site. If advertisers don’t see the value of running alongside equestrian content they aren’t going to pay money to run there. If they’d rather pay top dollar to run alongside beach volleyball which sport do you think there will be more coverage on? That being said there is always a separation of advertising and content for media outlets for legal reasons. I’m sure the networks are the same way.
The best thing you can do is watch the live stream online… and if you want to be really, really helpful, CLICK ON THE ADS! Advertisers track how many views and how many clicks their ads got. No one at the networks would be giggling if they realized the demographic they are reaching with equestrians. Think about it… the majority of us are female, aged 20-60 (don’t mean to offend anyone!), with 50k+ household income (again, don’t mean to offend!), brand loyal, and have disposalbe income. Do you know how many advertisers jump at targeting that kind of audience?! We should be the ones laughing… those advertisers are spending millions paying top dollar to do demographic targeting and they don’t even realize all they had to do was spend less and purchase the ad space within equestrian to get the same results. :lol:
Letters are a good idea too. In your letter mention how many hours you streamed on the live feed or watched on tv. Tell a bit about yourself in the letter. Explaining that you’re a 46 year old accountant who just bought a new mac computer and a ford f350 this year may sound silly, but the person reading the letter will think “Wow we need to set up meetings with apple, ford, and charles schwab about sponsoring this silly equestrian stuff next time!”
Oh and keep checking Beezie’s blog! 
Fortunately there are a few girls down in the newsroom who like horses too!
Seriously, I’ve noticed this same comment frequently as of late, both on-line and in the real world. Has the demise of the VCR made timeshifting more difficult now than it was during the VCR’s hey-day? I honestly don’t know, because my combo machine is play-only for DVDs. I still do my recording on tape.
…Think about it… the majority of us are female, aged 20-60 (don’t mean to offend anyone!), with 50k+ household income (again, don’t mean to offend!), brand loyal, and have disposalbe income…
Yes, but does this constitute a demographic that will succumb to an ad and be persuaded to part with its hard-earned $$$ ?
[QUOTE=Angela Freda;3441856]
I begged my husband not to get a Mac.
Just sucks.[/QUOTE]
That’s crazy. They’re great. Of course you can watch the videos on them, and with Mac when all the PC users are getting viruses, you just keep on truckin’. My daughter got a Mac when she went to college and within the first week a massive virus hit and the entire university system was shut down. Didn’t affect her in the least.
I am totally unable to watch the live feeds!! I have a PC (not MAC) and downloaded Silverlight (or what the heck ever it is called!) and NOTHING! I have watched live feeds from Upperville, from AQHA Youth world shows as well as numerous other shows with NO PROBLEMS (and no “Silverlight” needed either) and am pretty ticked off about it!
[QUOTE=MFP;3441452]
OK… Not to throw anyone under the bus, but a good friend of mine husband is one of the highest ranking decision makers at NBC’s Olympic Production (He is a really great guy and I would hate to make his name public). I had dinner with this them right before he left for China… and I asked him why NBC never covers Equestrian Events. He started Laughing. He mentioned that Equestrian is the ‘joke’ at NBC… Any time they are looking to fill a spot with coverage someone states “lets put on equestrian” (sarcastically) and everyone in the room laughs. He said that Judo is also the other running joke at NBC as well.
He also mentioned that no one at NBC really knows anything about equestrian, and they also get the most request for our sport. FYI, NBC is not in Hong Kong covering equestrian… they contracted it out.
Personally, I am happy that we have the live feed… that is a good start. Too bad Animal Planet or Outdoor Sports Network can’t step in and purchase the rights to the equestrian. I have no idea how that stuff works…
-MFP[/QUOTE]
People don’t understand the sport so they can’t enjoy it. Feel privilege that we do understand it… therefore that makes us far more brilliant than the majority of people who’s brains can only watch volleyball… 
The FEI could help with getting advertising dollars into big markets, couldn’t they? They have the Samsung Team World Cup, the HSBC Eventing series, Rolex for the Individual World Cups, and some of the European big events and horses also have big sponsors who do business in the US. Audi and Mitsubishi are a couple of those. Lexus used to be a sponsor at Rolex. Alltech is a United States horse supply company that bought the naming rights to the next WEG.
If sponsors were able to put dollars on the table for the horse part of the Olympics, maybe NBC would carry more.
One thing I’ve noticed is that the (mostly European) sponsored horses don’t carry their sponsors’ names into the Olympics. I’m assuming that is an Olympic rule.
No, it’s easier than ever now with DVRs and Tivo like devices. You can even set your device to record any thing that is “horse” or “equestrian” related, the device will look through program listings and descriptions and record things you probably didn’t even know were on.
With the live (as it happens) coverage of every second of Equestrian online, and rewind abilities online, plus the showing of equestrian coverage on various cable channels, this has to be the best covered Olympics from an equestrian POV. But it seems some people aren’t happy unless it’s being shown on prime time on NBC.
The future of coverage of stuff like this, for all minority sports and interests, lies online, and the quality will only get better over time. I follow several other sports that are unheard of in the US, but through the wonders of modern technology I can watch games live on my computer from the other side of the world. So keep your computer up to date and make sure you have a fast connection.
ShawneeAcres:
I totally agree with you. I can watch video all over the internet. But not the Olympics! Why didn’t they use a technology that was more widely available!?
[QUOTE=horsephotolady;3442382]
So, in spite of that fact that there is supposedly so much more coverage this year, I’m seeing less Olympics than I ever have in the past. I’m really not a very happy camper this year.[/QUOTE]
Well, it can’t be helped that it’s in China and the 11am - 1pm events are 11pm+ here. I think it’s great to see so much live on tv (I can’t see the computer stream - I have Linux, which isn’t supported).
FarnleyGarnet - oooo, clicking on the ads! You’re so right!! Good point.
Since I can’t watch it live on computer, I do make a point to go to the NBC site and also the Sports Illustrated site; you can choose by sport and I click Equestrian LOTS to check on how things are going, read the Eq athletes profiles, the feature stories, everything, so Eq will get lots of clicks, because I KNOW they’re tracking them. Now I’ll take Farnley’s advice and make sure to click on the ads that come up in the Equestrian areas.
I would like to see NBC put Matt Lauer or Bob Costa on a horse and have them attempt to do a dressage test or jump a fence… That should give NBC some GREAT ratings…
Yay for Bold and CBC
Another one glued to Bold. I believe the CBC was given an award last year (or year before) by Equine Canada for “Broadcaster of the Year”. Stroking them when they have done good doesn’t hurt. I am going to have to remember to write a letter at the end of the Olympics and thank them for their excellent coverage.
Seriously sleep deprived though, I PVR during the day and watch it at night. Yawn. Need more coffee.
Not that anyone asked, but just my two cents on why I don’t expect greater coverage of equestrian competition.
Time is a factor. It takes a long time to finish an event and determine a winner or place standings. So many of the sports that DO get covered are faster paced individual or group activiteis - you know the final outcome more quickly. Seems that many a consumer likes instant gratification - especially if you only have a half hour to sit and watch.
Equestrian is harder to understand for a non-equestrian viewer. Most anyone can watch a track and field event and know who did a better job. I don’t think the same can be said for Dressage. Often it seems that the “exciting” and “interesting” part of equestrian competition for the non-equestrian are the things that go wrong (falls, spooking, etc.).
Sadly, I can think of many parents, friends, spouses, etc. that have a hard time hanging out at a horse show where someone that they know is competing. I cannot imagine that they would have an interest in sitting and watching those they don’t know.
I am pleased that we have the live feed option. Frankly, I think that is a great compromise for those of us who want to watch all of it and the business of providing an entertaining show for the average consumer to watch. I would rather have a live feed option of all the equestrian events than have limited viewing of it on television during primetime.
[QUOTE=twofatponies;3441685]
Fine, so put the dressage riders in bikinis! :rolleyes:[/QUOTE]
Tight white pants aren’t enough? Black boots and whips? Put bikinis tops on the XC rides on the women and no shirts on the men. That should help. Except with that Polish or Belarus guy.
[QUOTE=MFP;3442722]
I would like to see NBC put Matt Lauer or Bob Costa on a horse and have them attempt to do a dressage test or jump a fence… That should give NBC some GREAT ratings…[/QUOTE]
I believe that the Today Show put Hoda on Phillip Dutton’s horse the other day - she was all dressed in the pink coat and everything.
Of course!! Gees… almost forgot about that “MS” part!
Older mac user here (hey, unlike my piece of crap PC, its still running strong after 6 years, no need for a new one!). Therefore I can’t watch ANY of the videos on the NBC site… not live feeds, not replays… It sucks!
GRR on NBC, I can’t believe they REPLAY sports (usually sports with minmal clothing!) rather then show differnt sports. I don’t care if equestrian isn’t shown prime time, I know its not every one’s gig. But show me SOME THING differnt! Rafting is SO COOL! Show me some cycling! Haven’t see any martial arts…
[QUOTE=Peggy;3441822]
Think about it. What do the initials MSNBC stand for?[/QUOTE]
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