NEW YORK----AOL announced today that Gold Rush is making its return this fall,
exclusively on AOL http://www.aol.com.
As with the original, “Gold Rush Goes Hollywood”
is co-produced by legendary TV pioneer Mark Burnett. The groundbreaking
interactive game lets players turn their pop culture smarts into real
gold. The original Gold Rush attracted nearly 11 million users and five
blue chip sponsors.
“Gold Rush Goes Hollywood”
is scheduled to launch in September with some exciting new twists and
innovations. This year’s theme is “Gold
Rush Goes Hollywood” and the interactive game
and themes will reflect current celebrity trivia and groundbreaking
entertainment news. It will build on the success of the first year’s
interactive game and video experiences, by combining them into a daily
interactive game show, where everyone can watch and play to win exciting
prizes over the course of the seven week period. The video and game-play
experiences will be seamlessly connected in an engaging and entertaining
new format which takes full advantage of the medium. And, for the Grand
Finale, five finalists will literally hunt for gold in Hollywood, where
one lucky winner will walk away with the million dollar prize.
“Gold Rush changed the online entertainment
landscape, proving that the Internet could support a unique multimedia
game show experience. We are delighted to be working with Mark Burnett
again to produce ‘Gold Rush Goes Hollywood’,”
said Mike Kelly, President of AOL Media Networks. “The
success of Gold Rush proved that AOL could successfully mount a
large-scale entertainment experience, giving us the conviction to
develop a host of other innovative programming efforts, which we are
announcing at our First Look event in New York City today.”
"Along with the brilliant minds at AOL, we created, in Gold Rush, a
highly successful and innovative pop culture multi-media event," said
Mark Burnett. "Millions of Americans embraced this fun new format and,
with $2 million at stake this fall, the competition is sure to
intensify. The Internet is becoming increasingly central to our
entertainment experiences, and together with AOL, we are embracing this
future."
AOL and Mark Burnett will unveil “Gold
Rush Goes Hollywood” at the AOL First
Look event in New York City today, along with several other new
programs, including, “Ye Old Shrek the Third
Royal Announcement,” “The
Ellen DeGeneres Show” tie-in, “Million
Dollar Bill,” and “iLand.”
AOL First Look is the first time an online network has announced a
series of major-scale programs at a single event, similar
to traditional upfront events in the television industry.
Key facts about the original Gold Rush:
-
Launched: September 13, 2006
-
Audience: 10.7 million unique visitors
-
Engagement: Users spent an average of 16.3 minutes per visit
-
Winner: Michael Kearney of Nashville won the $1 million Grand Prize in
a finale conducted on the set of Entertainment Tonight.
A sampling of reviews of Gold Rush:
“If online entertainment ever becomes the
mass medium of choice…."Gold Rush" will be
remembered as a stroke of genius.” Johnny
Roberts, Newsweek
“Generating buzz around the watercooler…”
Jessica Vascellaro, The Wall Street Journal
“Convergent media games like Gold Rush are
the hottest advertising vehicle to hit Madison Avenue since Google
introduced search marketing.” Amanda Fung, Crain’s
New York Business
“The hit online game show Gold Rush continues
to take the country by storm!” Star
Magazine
How the game works:
-
Every weekday players can log on to http://www.aol.com
to use their pop culture savvy to solve a variety of interactive game
challenges. These challenges are open to all participants over the
course of a seven week period.
-
There will be three new challenges each weekday, followed by a prize
round, where each day players can win thousands of dollars in cash,
prizes and/or a seat in the finale.
-
The 35 finalists who qualify through daily game play will be joined by
5 additional finalists; those 40 finalists will be reduced to 5 in a
high-profile online game in Week 8 of Gold Rush
-
The 5 remaining players will head to Hollywood to compete on-camera
for the $1 million grand prize
About AOL
AOL is a global Web services company that operates some of the most
popular Web destinations, offers a comprehensive suite of free software
and services, runs the country's largest Internet access business, and
provides a full set of advertising solutions. A majority-owned
subsidiary of Time Warner Inc., AOL LLC is based in Dulles, Virginia.
AOL and its subsidiaries also have operations in Europe, Canada and
Asia. Learn more at AOL.com.
About Mark Burnett Productions
Mark Burnett Productions MBP is a leading production company in
content for both primetime television and the internet. MBP
revolutionized television with hits such as Survivor CBS, The
Apprentice NBC, The Contender ESPN, Rock Star: INXS CBS, the new
smash hit Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?
FOX and an upcoming co-production with Steven Spielberg and DreamWorks
Television, On the Lot FOX. Other MBP future projects include: Pirate
Master CBS and the 2007 MTV Movie Awards MTV for which Mark Burnett
will serve as Executive Producer. Burnett also serves as the Executive
Producer of the syndicated daytime show "Martha." MBP recently partnered
with AOL on the highly successful interactive adventure Gold Rush, the
first-ever unscripted project to be produced exclusively for the
internet. MBP has established a scripted division and is developing
comedies and dramas for television as well as feature films. MBP also
successfully reintroduced product placement as an integral part of each
of its shows and has garnered a total of 46 Emmy nominations since 2001.
