Make it or Break it

Media lives and dies by its audience.

Media is all connected and influences each other. But audiences make it or break it

Audiences "make or break it" for media. In all forms.

Culture's Influence

 Without an audience media wouldn't exist or have the impact that it does in daily life. I'll be completely honest, I really wasn't sure what media measurements were prior to researching it and I never thought about how crucial ratings are to media's existence. I think the biggest challenge today for media is adapting to how consumers view or utilize the content. For example, it's much more common in today's culture to watch TV from a mobile phone or the internet than from an actual television screen. That changes ratings and how ratings are measured. For the purpose of this blog I'm going to focus mainly on television measurements.

Television (Nielson Media Research)

Network television viewings are managed by the Nielson Media Research measurement service. They use a people meter; a meter that is attached to about 5,000 homes across the country, every time someone tunes into a program it's measured and tells the network. This whole idea of being "measured" is crazy. It's like a whole new world I never knew existed! According to the Strategic Media Decisions textbook 2nd edition, the findings from the meters are used to project program ratings, audience size and characteristics for network shows. According to the textbook there has been some controversy with Nielson and their practices, evidence has shown that their ratings measure programs and not commercials. The whole point is for advertising commercials to be seen and truthfully how many people really sit and watch commercials? (unless it's Super Bowl Sunday!) The textbook also states that advertisers spent between $60 and $70 billion on television ads alone. Quite a bit of money for commercials! Personally, I know I am not one to watch commercials, I change the channel as soon as an ad shows up. 

Problems?

The textbook mentions some issues that Nielson has with their measurements and the impact of them. Truthfully, I think there are some good points that get brought up. (all of these points come from the textbook which was published in 2008 so these issues are pulled from that year)

1) In 2008, Nielson was making some changes in how they used their meters, every change that is made in how viewings are measured has a great impact. It can increase ratings or decrease them. This begs the question, can a measurement company "play" or "tweak" the viewings to their benefit so they can spend more money on advertising? How reliable are the ratings? 

2) In some cases, it's programs that are rated not commercials. The commercials is what is advertised not the actual network show. People (like myself) are more than capable of tuning into their program and as soon as a commercial comes on they change the channel. But because of how Nielson measures the ratings the meters count when a remote clicks into a channel even if it's when the program is on. Not the commercial. This leads to another question, are advertisers really utilizing their money wisely on where they place ads?

I don't have answers to these questions but they're very thought provoking about how reliable the measurements truly are. I just thought it was interesting and definitely made me think beyond just retaining information! I also think it can help us get more creative in how we advertise and where commercials are placed! 

Changing Times

I think it's interesting to also consider the changing times that we live in now as it relates to media. According to a study on Nielson's website they show this image which states that only 50% of viewers actually view programs from a television. 30% use a computer or a mobile device, 9% use mobile and 11% watch TV and use mobile. Half only watch TV from their homes. I think that definitely influences ratings because there's more to measure than just homes. In my mind, media is the best industry because it constantly evolves to match the changing times.

Nielson's website has this information on their website, the top 10 television shows (prime time) each week. A great resource for advertisers and knowing where ads fit! http://www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/top10s/television.html

Audiences make or break media. The industry is a puzzle of constantly evolving and adapting to ever changing viewing audiences and achieving success.

The "Big" Stage

Ravens' Quarterback Joe Flacco

49ers Quarterback Colin Kapernick 

49ers 

Vs.

Ravens

Football's Biggest Stage

February might mean the hope of spring for some people, or basketball season beginning in full swing, but for people like me, it means the Super Bowl and all the hype that comes with it. As a true football fanatic, everything about the sport's biggest game excites me. The ads, the players, teams, coaches and fans. The game has evolved into a part of America's culture. The Super Bowl is where dreams are captured or lost, it's where football players compete for sport's immortality. I love everything about it. This weekend on Feb 3rd, the San Francisco 49ers and the Baltimore Ravens will get the chance to play on football's biggest stage and become a part of one of the biggest media events of our culture. It truly has become more than a game. It's a time for ordinary men to chase greatness, and for dreams to come true. It's also when media is shown at its finest through commercials, sports commentaries, coverage and advertising. It's greatness.

The Commercials & Hype

The Super Bowl is by far more than just a game. Not only do sports teams get to compete for glory but media takes on a whole new competitive edge. The hype is unmatched. The commercials themselves are their own form of a "super bowl" it's like the media is competing in its own game to win the public's attention. It's gotten increasingly more and more expensive (almost outrageously in my opinion, but of course that's what keeps the industry in business) as the years have gone by. According to a website called "Business Insider" in the sports page section, 1995 was the first year the a 30 second super bowl commercial slot cost $1 million! Since then it's increased to $3 million last year! This picture breaks down the costs from year to year for a 30 second slot.

Super Bowl Ad costs throughout the years.

Okay, so now that there's this breakdown chart of what the Super Bowl ads cost. Here lies the question. Why? What's the point? Well, the Huffington Post states that last year's game was one of the highest rated with 111.3 million tuning in for the major sporting event. The four quarters of football clearly have become one of the best advertising outlets for media today. With that many viewers how can media not get their message across? It's really a perfect sales pitch if you ask me. Personally, I am WAY more likely to pay attention to commercials when it's during my favorite game of the year cheering on some men in football uniforms!

Media's Big Stage    

The Super Bowl is immortal. It idolizes the players who play the game, the coaches who teach it and the commercials that help make the game complete. Media doesn't only use their ads as a way to capture the game but the coverage and commentators. I think in a lot of ways the Super Bowl demands attention and the audiences are way more likely to pay attention during those ads then any other day. It's the biggest stage for football, sports and media. It's immortalizes those involved. One of our biggest days in America. I mean every Super Bowl Sunday, my phone is turned off and I am locked in for the duration of that game. It's like time stops. Maybe that makes me  a crazy sports fan or maybe I'm just one of the millions who get caught up in all the "hype." 

I don't think any Super Bowl blog post would be complete without some commercials. Without further ado here is the top ten Super Bowl commercials from 2011 on superbowlcommercials.com. I have to say endless entertainment! It's not all about football on Super Bowl day! http://www.superbowl-commercials.org/2873.html

Through the Years

    Media is a crucial part of our culture, especially social media. It's become our way of communicating and truthfully it's become one of the most persuasive and influential aspects of our society. We thrive off of staying "in the know" and having information at a moment's notice.

   Media and our culture wasn't always this way, we used to be elated over talking on the telephone or listening to a radio broadcast. A textbook called Strategic Media Decisions explains major changes that media has experienced through the years. It's changed, it is more accessible and it's a social outlet as well as an information source. We survive off of media. Through the years it's evolved from creating the printing press to Facebook, and Twitter taking over. In a lot of ways, media has become more and more influential.

   I will be the first to admit I love media and social media specifically. I love having access to information in the blink of an eye and I love the "popularity" social media gives you. However, I do think that media has more of an influence now than it ever did years ago. Today, advertisements, daily news, and television have become major ways of influencing homes and decisions. A yahoo article called "media influence in our society," talks about how our culture is so accustomed to technology, and media and the way it is a major aspect of our society. It's ironic how something like the printing press opened the door for mass media becoming en-grained in our everyday lives. We can't even turn on the tv or listen to the radio without media having some impact on thought or action.

  I love media. I love that it impacts our culture, however sometimes it's interesting to take a look back through the years and see how media has developed into a major aspect of our culture.

This youtube video really captures where media started and what it has evolved to throughout the years and paints a picture of how much of an influence it has over our society. We thrive off of media and our culture has been built around it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vm5Zgkwnp_g

Life Lately...

God is constantly so unbelievably good and faithful. I can't get enough of His love! Lately, things have been adjusting back into a semi-normal routine with school starting back up. Zi is back at school with me which is great since I need to get him back in shape for show season. This is my last semester at BHE which I really can't believe.

I was thinking a lot about that today... for three semesters I have been at this school where I have faced one of the most difficult trials of my life and yet one of the most beautiful seasons of my life. God has done more than I ever could have fathomed and He has refined me and grown me in ways I never imagined. As I look to the future and what next year holds, I don't get scared or overwhelmed because I am so confident in the fact that God has a plan and will give me the strength for wherever He calls me to go. All I desire is to be where He wants me to be.

On the horse front, things have been fantastic... Zi is coming along better than I had hoped and I'm really excited to see about some shows this summer and trying to market myself as a trainer. I just want to keep working unceasingly in this horse industry and see what God does. If I am confident of anything, it is that He has called me to be a light and a witness within the equine world and that is where He has gifted me. I often feel so unworthy of being used by the Lord and I am so thankful for His amazing grace and unending love. This is the desire of my life: If I have to go through trial or critiscism or hardship and God is seen through that and someone comes to know Him then everything is worth it. That is eternal. That matters more than any horse show or training job or colleg because at the end of my life all I want is to be in my savior's arms and be able to worship and praise him constantly
. I am so thankful for what God is doing and I am so excited to see where He takes me in these coming months! Surrender is beautiful.

Philippians 1:21 For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.

I Am not my Own

I am officially on Christmas Break! A whole month away from school, I get to be at home with the family and I also get a blessed chance to catch up with friends whom I haven't seen for a few months. I love this restoration and rejuvenation period God blesses us college kids with! :)

Lately, most of my time has been taken up with riding and working Zi (He needs to stay in shape with the month away from school, next semester starts our show season!), working out, hanging with the family and dear friends, working, and spending time in the Word. I love having no time contstraints and able to sit with my Bible and journal and write, pray and read for endless minutes. In addition to this semester closing out... there is the overwhelming and ever present question of "what am I going to do next year?" Blackhawk is a two year program school and next year I am either transferring on to another 4 year university to get my bachelor's degree in animal science (equine emphasis) or going straight to work in the training industry. Needless to say, I have absolutely no idea what next year is going to encompass. But I do know this. I am not my own. My choices are not going to be made based on what I want but on what God has for me.

I've spent a lot of my journaling time and time in prayer reflecting on my life and on the passions God has given me and on what God is doing in my heart. Right now, this is what I know. I am passionate about training horses and teaching people and horses...I love working with horses others don't always understand and I love the complexity and beauty of the discipline of dressage. I love being around people, I love loving people.. I love being there for others and I love doing whatever I can to help others. I love to love! More than anything else, I love Jesus Christ and everything I do reflects Him and the call He has placed on my life. I live to glorify Him. I am not my own.

Currently, I am planning on applying to West Texas A&M and Oklahoma State University for next year and hopefully being apart of their horse judging and equestrian teams. However, I have no idea where I will actually end up. Just as the Israelites laid out their fleece overnight prior to battle to see what God would do; I am laying out my fleece and waiting to see what God reveals. I could end up at another college far from home... yes, being away from home would be so incredibly difficult. However, my infinate fear in life is that I make choices to live comfortably, to do what is easy. I know God calls me to be uncomfortable, to trust Him so completely that I am unafraid to put myself in situations that cause discomfort. Wherever God calls me to next year, I will follow. I long to be a woman who is so lost and consumed with the Lord that I without hesitation go where He leads me.

He has opened doors for me in the horse industry in ways that I never would of imagined... I pray to one day have a ministry where I can work with people and horses and serve the Lord. I want to be used by Him. I have been placed at Blackhawk to be used by Him and to be put in an uncomfortable situation so that He can refine me. There is no part of myself that is my own. All of me is completely and utterly Christ's.

1 Corinthians 6:19-20

Trust

I know I have been bad at this whole updating thing, which is my fault because I have allowed myself to get way too busy at school. I think everything that God did in my life when I was in San Diego this summer has completely carried over into this school year.

I started this semester with an excitement to see what God would do, I was focused and ready for judging at the two biggest contests of my career the Quarter Horse Congress and the AQHA World show. Looking back.. it makes me so sick to my stomach to think that I doubt God sometimes and His plan. At the beginning of the semester, I once again allowed fear and doubt to creep into my mind and I kept listening to satan's lies of "you aren't good enough; why would you even try?" I tried to do things on my own and I was consumed with the idea of perfection. In my mind, in order to be used I had to be at this amazing perfect place spiritually and I had to have it all together.

I wonder if God finds humor in our human ways of thinking. How could I ever try to be enough for the creator of the universe and pretend like I am capable on my own? How ridiculous is that!? Anyway, at the Congress I completely caved and crumbled... I made everything about me and lost my focus. After that trip to Ohio, God showed up in ways that I still am in awe of. He used my judging coach and his wife to minister to me and speak to my heart in a way that could only be the Holy Spirit. It was as if this curtain was lifted from my eyes and I realized who I am and why I'm here. I am Christ's. I have been living in the shadow of doubt for way too long... now is the time to be and to choose to be who God has called me to be. I don't have to be in a "perfect" place spiritually to be used by Him. The truth is, I don't have it all together and I am absolutely nothing without Christ and that is why I am so content. Because of my Lord:) This semester has been refining my character and brought me to a new intimacy with the Lord that I never knew was possible. I've learned to rely on Him in ways that I've never had to before.

I don't know where I'm going to be next year... I don't know where I'll end up. I don't know how I'll pay for next year. But I trust that God has it planned out and I know He will provide and no matter what I will be more than okay because I am His. I feel like right now I'm really being called by Him to go and try to find a job working for a trainer near the Chicagoland area next year...which is so different from what all my peers are telling me but who am I to doubt God's call for my life? I will give my all and work my butt off in this horse industry and to try and find a trainer to work for and establish a business and allow myself to be used in the horse world because that is the passion God has given me and where He has called me to be. I will not be moved. I am standing on the Rock of Christ and I work, I breathe, I live, I love, my heart beats entirely for serving Him.

I love how God works. I love this constant and beautiful journey of life that constantly brings us closer to His heart.

Colossians 3:23
Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men."

How He Loves

Today was just entirely God filled and beautiful. A perfect summer day.

I woke up at 7am went and rode Zi (who was amazing today! He's been having a lot of mental moments lately and I'm learning more and more how to ride with the sensitivity and precision he needs which is a great learning experience for me) and then I went and spent the rest of my day with Courtney and Elizabeth. Those two girls are blessings in my life. God is just so evident in our friendship and I see elements of Him in both of them.

I can't put into words how overwhelmed with God's love I feel right now.. it's like I'm bubbling over with passion, excitement, and joy of how He loves, how He works. who He is and how He blesses. It takes my breath away. As we sat in Elizabeth's backyard, soaking up the sun's final afternoon rays; we spilled our hearts and just talked and talked about what God is doing in our lives and how blessed we are to have each other. It's in moments with dear best friends like that that I think to myself how incredible heaven will be! As we sit in the LORD'S prescence surrounded by a fellowship and community of believers and bask in His love. It gives me chills just thinking about it :)

I was reminded today of Psalm 46:10 "Be still and know that I am GOD." or in other versions: "Cease striving and know that I am GOD." How powerful is that scripture? Cease, be still and know who our Savior is and bask in that. I feel like life's pages turn so quickly.. I just got back from working in San Diego...I come home and I go back to school in two weeks.. football season is starting so Dad and Nathan (my brother) are busy (my dad is a head football coach at a large high school in Naperville, IL and my brother is a sophomore in high school plays for him) with two-a-days starting tomorrow and the first game being two weeks from Friday.. my mom is busy at her new job as a women's ministry director at our church. I am realizing how crucial it is to take the time to just cease all striving and be still before my Lord. His voice is all that matters and He longs and desires for us to seek Him, to bask in His love, and just be with Him. He fills us and when He fills us He uses us as lights to a dark world. I just love it. I love to love. I love His love. I will constantly be striving to be closer to Him.

I also think as I continue pursuing my career in the horse/dressage industry where I feel the Lord leading me.. I desire to have a ministry and to be able to share my faith and passion for God. I just love Him. There is no other words to use to describe it, I love horses because that is where God has gifted and called me and when I'm riding or working at the barn I see it as a form of worship. I desire to work at it, to give my all, to learn, to never give up because it's what God has called me to and it's just another way to experience intimacy with God and His love. I will never stop being in awe of His love.

How He loves :) Praise His name for that!!

As I head back to school a week from Thursday I just pray that God gives me the strength to keep my focus on Him, on growing in Him and on working hard to pursue dressage and continuing to train Zi.. including working out on a regular basis and staying fit enough to ride him with the precision that dressage requires. I just pray for that focus. And more than anything I pray that the schoolyear doesn't become about me.. as I compete in horse shows, judging contests and go to class, ride Zi, send out resumes for a job with a dressage trainer I pray that it does not become about me. That all of my desires remain rooted in the Lord and where He is calling me. That is my heart.

I just love how He loves :)