Media pundits were lukewarm on the online game show, but AOL seemed firmly behind "Gold Rush," created in conjunction with "Survivor" and "The Apprentice" producer Mark Burnett. As recently as April, AOL spotlighted the upcoming Gold Rush sequel in its version of an "upfront" for media buyers. News of the postponement was first reported yesterday by PaidContent.
AOL maintains that the first iteration of the show got high marks with viewers, drawing more than 9 million online participants and 90 million page views in its first month alone. Regardless, industry insiders were less than enthusiastic about the first version, with critics saying that the program wasn't generating much buzz.
The report of the new show's postponement comes when AOL and rivals like Yahoo are still figuring out their strategies for producing original content. Even two years ago, many observers thought that AOL and Yahoo would emerge as among the strongest producers of original online shows. But these days, it's looking increasingly likely that such companies will play a big role in distributing original Web content, but not necessarily a big role in creating it.
Who will emerge as new media's content creators? That question has sparked a huge talent hunt, as witnessed by yesterday's announcement from Sony that it was going to transform video-sharing site Grouper, now dubbed Cackle, into a platform to discover up-and-coming online filmmakers.