persoii{aljouml. - The Morris and King Company

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PERSOII{ALJOUML
THE \[IA],t STREETJOIIRNAL
T U E S D A Y ,O C T O B E R 3 . 2 0 0 6
in
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H k r k s " R eu l i t y
A sampling ol'
i s n u r v i : r gk ) t h { rl v o b w i t l r
Web-based
ir hosl.of rnlint' vidt:o rtntreality
t.r,:sls;tnti gitnu's ntrxleletl
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prograarming,
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elaboltte online dating
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ollet'itttyone
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ill. thc linl0lighl. La|ge c0nrpanics
and
now onlinevcntnresusingt'ealitycOntests,
existingoulinevidcositosa|r: usingthe fintests
ils ii way t0 set thcmselves
apart frorn the p;tttk.
'finre Wanxf Inc.'s AOL, in pat'tnership
with
"
tlie producer'
0f feality-Tvhits suchas "Sut'vivot
ancl"The Appfentice,"t'ecentlylaunchedan online leality urntestc[llcrl "GoldRush."Thegtand
plizc: t million dollals in goltl.In the pt'ogram,
ilnyoltectn bg on
whiclr|uns th|oughNovember,
to (xnnpetcin onlinett'ivia dtallengesto qualify
tbl offline final rounds thitt at'e filnted tncl
on A0l.com/goldl'ush.
stLeamerl
ns "webisorles"
ln onecontest,vicw0fsrililtchcelebritiessuchas
.lustin'I'imberlilke
and Shaqllille
O'Neillto their
ittsignia,
t'espectitll(x)s
{ir t rrrssilnclir Slll)('frnilrt
tivoly). I\'lirlosoftCor'p.'sMSN divisiont'ecently
wltppcd rrp an ouline feirlity basebilll series
rnllotl "I,'anClub: Iteillity llascball,"whereviewrls iLctcrlts the tclln miurlger and madedccisionsab0uttheplayorlinetql.A teal rninot'leagLte
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theSchilulnbrlrg
ing t.olheif votssitnil MSNp{)stedhigltlightclips
irn(l clubhousevictnus,viewedtnot'ethan half it
nrilliontimes,birclton the site.
otheI r'ealitvWeblrlog|ilnrmingrelieson usersubmittheir own
lcnelatc.(lcontent.[]outestants
videosand the winuel'is chosenthlough online
selies"Amerivoting.Thewinneroi a nine-week
cil's l)reanl Date," hostedby videosite Golrish.
lomon'ow.Tentrrenand 10
comwill be annotrncetl
Pl(us?'l'ut't lo [\rw I)1, (lilunur 4
GADGETS
Reality TV InspiresHost of\4IebGames
ContinuedF\'omPageDl
women,chosenfrom a pool of more than
400who submittedvideos,are competing
for a five-daydate in Paris by uploading
videos of themselvesdoing everything
from playing the harmonica to swing
dancing with actors in sailor suits.
Heavy.com, a New York-basedmedia
company that hosts dozensof online
shows, is launching reality Web shows
where cast memberscompetefor votes
by postingvideosor performingfor camera cre\{s. In "Heavy's Angels,"
launchedlast week,20 girls will vie for a
new car by posting video-diary entries.
"Manly Man Games,"a showwhereusers will competein office-inspiredcontests like office-chair skateboarding,is
set to start later this year.
The reality Webprogtammingis helping Nick Schmidt,who sayshe resembles
actor Jake Gyllenhaal, fulfill his ambi'
tion to be a TV star. "I am too old to be on
MTV's 'The Real World,' " saYs Mr.
Schmidt, a 2?-year-oldaccountantfrom
Champaigr, Ill., who is currently the
third-rankedmale in "America'sDream
Date" with 88votesthis round. "So,I'm
'The Bachethinking of this kind of like
lor."' Mr. Schmidt'srecentvideosubmis'
sionsincludea segmentwhere he uses
the sign languagefor "beer" and tests
whether wearing scentedbody spray attracts women in a bar.
Much like the plethora of reality programming on television, reality Web
show vary wildly in both concept and
quality.Some,like "Gold Rush," resemble game showswhere the first rounds
are open to anyone. Others are essentially large-scale popularity contests
where a large pool of contestantsis narrowed down through elimination votes
and user-generatedcontent is interspersedwith professionalsegmentsnarrated by a host.
a site foundedby
0n Googleldol.com,
Ben Petro,a Webdeveloperin Australia,
the opencall to uploadvideosin the site's
competitioncategorieslike "Rock" and
"Kids" has beenansweredby a tair number of teens with braces and Webcams,
who must first post their video to Google
Video before uploading the link to Googleidol.com.(GoogleInc. says it doesn't
mind that its nameis being usedbecause
it enhancesand popularizesGooglevideo
content.)On recently launchedBix.com,
userscanevencreatethe termsandprizes
for their own competitionlike one "Rant"
competitionwherecontestantsare asked:
"In 25 to 45 secondsdescribesomething
that you flnd incrediblyannoying."(With
the mostviews currently is a bit on women
who are afraid to sit on publictoilet seats.)
Reality televisionhas beenlinkedto tlte
Webfor years, giving fans an online outlet
to root for their favorite would-be chef,
modelor inventor.Mark Burnett.whosereality TV producton companyhas promoted
shows like "The Apprentice" and "Rock
Contestant,fronPop )
Webcamcompetition
onGoogleidol.com.
The Real Web
Someof the Web sites with
reality-contestprogramming:
EUn
Googleldol
andsearch
by
Goto Googleldol.com
(PopWebcam,
Rockor Kids,for
contest
exam0le).
youcan
Bywinning
a competition,
hostyourown
earntherightto
onthesite.
comoetition
GoldRush
to complete
GotoA0L.com/Goldrush
watchvideosor
thetriviachallenges,
gameblogcomment
ontheGlog-or
gamenewsandtips.
featuring
arenarrated
offlinechallenges
the
andhostedMarkSteines,
of Entertain
mentT0night.
co-host
Dream
America's
Date
intoa
Footage
willbecompiled
andclickon
Goto GoFish.com
permanent
channel
onGoFish.
America's
DreamDatetabto browse
videosorsearchbycontestant. comalongwithsomevideo
through
montages
of popular
videos.
Star"with exclusivecontentandcontestant
blogson Yahooand MSN, says the new
reality Webprogramminghas the potential
it's availto reacha wideaudiencebecause
ableat all timesof the day."The Internet is
a new type of prime time," he says.
Theprogrammingalsorepresentscompanies'attempts
to profit from the rise in
popularityof videositessuchas YouTube
and MSN video. Advertisershave been
reluctantto advertiseon somevideosites,
concernedtheir ads will appear next to
inappropriateor copyrightedcontent.But
conin a contestformat, user-generated
tent is oftenhandpickedand bundledwith
professionallyproduced segments.And
muchlike reality television,opportunities
for product placementsabound. AOL's
GoldRushhas five corporatesponsorsinZero
cludingBest Buy Co. and Coca-Cola
that can embed their products in challenges. In one challenge,for example,
playersare askedto watch a short ad for
CokeZerofor help in answeringa series
of trivia questions.
The reality Web showsare commandby TV standards.AOL
ing smallaudiences
saysthat severalhundredthousandpeople
have registeredto play "Gold Rush," a
lractionof the morethan 30million people
whotunedinto a typicalepisodeof "Americanldol" last season.But theyaregenerating buzzaroundthe water cooler.Erin Farris plays "Gold Rush" during breaks at
work. "If I was free to sigl on the moment
the new challengeswere posted,I would
havea chance,"saysMs. Farris,a 24-yearold consultantin Denver,whosepop-cul-
tu-reprowesshas helpedher sail through
challengeslike matching celebritieslike
Nicole Richie and Bill Gates with how
much they earn. The experienceisn't alshesays,and during peak
waysseamless,
usagetimes she often has to wait for the
programsto load over the broadbandnetwork on her computeror for her answers
to be recognized.
Viewerswho endurespotry accessand
sometimesfuzzy screensmay, however,
find sometalent."America'sDreamDate"
contenderDennisFuller, who goesby the
nameDentonRose,hasbeenpickedup by
talent agency Abrams Artists since he
startedparticipatingin the show."It's all
saysMr.
kind of happenedunexpectedly,"
Rose,who hascampaigaingto attract viewers for his levitation tricks and workout
videosby passingout fliers in Denvergrocery storesand night clubs.
In addition, unlike reality television
starswho auditionin person,onlinestars
can always fudge the facts-and often
do. Michael Downing,chief executiveof
GoFish.com,saysthat with voting wrapping up later this week, the companyis
asking the top contestantsfor copiesof
their driver's licensesto verify their identity. "We want to ensure that all these
people who have been participating
aren't completelyduped,"he says.
ll*Nl./esslca Vascellarotakes a closer
Y
tookat the realitu nrooramand
its mouefrom the teteuisionio the
computer,at W3l,com/Video.