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Wednesday, February 01, 2006

Reality Bites into Mass Interactive Online



It looks like AOL and reality guru Mark Burnett are teaming to bring a treasure hunt to broadband. Titled "Gold Rush," this will presumably be mass interactive, allowing anyone willing to participate. No more 2 minute video submissions trying to catch the eye of an un-impress-able casting director. Finally, the egalitarian reality opportunity. Just a will. See this as becoming more of the norm, where technology allows it - see Tom Anderson (myspace), Amanda Congdon (Rocketboom) et al, and where commoners think they have the right to fame. Call it the Paris Hilton effect (will someone tell me when will she turn passe, she can't jump any more sharks?), where one's sole talent appears to be in their ability to become almost famous.

http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/interactive/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001920604

4 comments:

AKI SYSTEMS 2600 said...

"...an online show designed to engage viewers with a real-life treasure hunt that involves television, mobile and anywhere else audiences find their entertainment. Short episodes -- less than five minutes long -- will be available on AOL.com. These will be the core element of a competition in which members of the public race to find stores of gold hidden in the U.S., guided by clues that initially will be placed throughout such AOL properties as AOL.com, AIM.com, Moviefone.com and MapQuest.com but are expected to appear in other media, too. "We're also tying in a television network," Burnett said. "We're having meetings, and a network will be chosen to hide clues in other programming."

AKI SYSTEMS 2600 said...

Hmn. Is it me? Or might we have seen all this in more than one or two briefs recently? Hmn, and do I recall a bit of Client Poo-Pooing at the proposition? Don't u just love to see the competition give u retribution?

Seth said...

i'd still rather watch brad, big rand battle in gauntlet 2 each week for $10,000 check. they graduated from real world san diego with flying colors and thus were accepted into mtv's grad school. no one's extended their 15 minutes better than mark and tim. paris will be $ until she gets married. she and nicole in the gauntlet (or competing in any # of challenges) would gain an unprecedented viewership. but back to the lecture at hand (no g-thang lyrics following), treasure hunting needs personalities to keep it entertaining(why else would you watch other than to cheer or hate? - see manhaters.com or chapelle skit with playa hater ball). just now we can really real people to root for, like those 2 asian kids lip-syncing bsb while looking for gold rather than ruthie (or ruthie if she falls back off the wagon). i hope there's a likeable pirate. also, for a good example of hunting hitting mainstream - not watching but participating, peep http://www.atreasurestrove.com/.

willson said...

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