About two months ago, host Veronica Belmontannounced she was leaving the podcast Mahalo Daily for another project. As much of the show’s success was due in part to her contributions, Founder and CEO of Mahalo Jason Calacanis realized that another charismatic host needed to be found, and fast. In an unusual move, Calacanis and the Mahalo Daily producers decided to have an American Idol-style showdown to determine who would be the new co-host of Mahalo Daily and complement to the talented Lon Harris. Over the course of about a month, over 100 “contestants” battled it out to try and garner this position, but the process has had its ups and downs. On the eve of the announcement of who the winner will be, I review these ups and downs and try to determine whether, overall, the aptly yet awkwardly-named Mahalo Vlog Idol competition has been a success or a failure.
The Premise
First off, I question whether or not an American Idol-styled competition is best for determining the co-host of a webshow. I’m not really sure why Calacanis and company chose to take this route in the first place; perhaps podcast views were dropping and the team decided an attempt at revitalization was necessary, it’s hard to say. If this was the goal, though, I’m not sure this was the decision to make. Unlike the actual American Idol competition, Mahalo Vlog Idol participants were competing for exposure to a very small niche; that is, podcast viewers, rather than the entire worldwide community. As a result, I don’t see the Vlog Idol competition attracting new viewers, as the only individuals interested in the outcome would be current viewers anyway. Whereas American Idol gains viewers because competitors have something of interest to the community at large, I expect the Vlog Idol initially only appealed to current viewers at best.
That being said, the idea to involve the community in choosing a new co-host is very Web 2.0 and shows a positive openness to discussion.
The Process
In the first few episodes of the Mahalo Vlog Idol, contestants came before “judges” Calacanis, Alex Albrecht, and Loren Feldman. Personally, I almost found them almost awkward to watch, as it was clear most of the young women had arrived at the Mahalo offices just as they would for a routine interview. Although the bluntness often displayed by Simon, Paula, and Randy on American Idol is a draw to the show, here, it was much closer to being a turn-off. At several times during the episode, I actually minimized my video player just so I wouldn’t have to view these poor contestants being criticized by the three judges. Although I’m sure the ladies had willfully agreed to the process, it was still uncomfortable and seemed a bit pretentious of the three web personalities to so closely mirror the American Idol judges.
Unfortunately, as the show segued into “The Bachelon,” a parody of The Bachelor, the awkwardness continued as judges continued to be largely critical. In the portion of the show where contestants were eliminated, even usually jovial Lon seemed cold as he requested that eliminated participants “please leave immediately.”
Things began to heat up and get more interactive as the six semifinalists each produced their own Mahalo Daily episode to be voted on in the community. In an unusual partnership with Seesmic, the competition offered a Macbook Air to the best video comment regarding the six episodes. Unfortunately, only about 20 video comments were left, which meant each video comment cost the companies around $90 each; it’s unlikely that the reward generated enough interest to be worth that investment. Strangely, almost 400 non-video comments were posted, making me wonder if individuals misunderstood the promotion. Still that means each comment was worth around $4.50 to Mahalo and Seesmic, and I’m not sure if I’d consider that to be a success.
Lastly, as an added complication, some sort of tampering seemed to occur with the Zoho-integrated voting widget embedded on the voting page; it was clear many individuals voted more than once, and some contestants seemed to have the support of hackers and spammers as numbers fluctuated widely, with one contestant going from last to first place overnight.
After the voting debacle, there seemed to be more behind-the-scenes trouble as two contestants did not show up for the taping of the The Apprentice-themed shows. I don’t think there’s been any official word out as to why the two girls failed to show, but it’s possible that the protracted audition process was beginning to get to them. I’d love to hear from one of the Mahalo Daily staff members about what happened.
Once the six semifinalists were narrowed down to two, Andrea Rene and Leah D’Emilio, they were asked to create a viral video for the final portion of the competition. Although this task seemed almost too difficult to me at first, I was pleasantly surprised by Ms. D’Emilio’s job on a parody of Mariah Carey’s “Touch My Body,” which has garnered almost 100,000 hits. You can view this video below:
As you can see, it’s pretty well done. Overall, despite the awkwardness and touch too much criticism on the part of the judges, I’d say the format was a relative success– heck, if even Tila Tequila gets involved, it must be something!
The Feedback
Unfortunately for the Mahalo Daily team, however, feedback from viewers has not been positive. First off, many of the comments in the Mahalo Daily threads have been combatative, hostile, or insulting. One viewer wrote:
I cant believe all you cry babies out there. listen to you all moaning and whining around. “ohhh, this is fixed, oh this tramp is so much better…Whaaaah, whaaah.” quit your complaining! just vote and shut up!
Also, many commenters seemed to think the contest has gone on for much too long. Wrote one individual:
BTW: Wrap this up, it is showing a great deal of indecisiveness from MD and smacks of getting a free ride on the backs of your applicants.
Perhaps worst of all, some Mahalo Daily viewers have even sworn that they’ll stop watching the webshow altogether as a result of this competition:
I agree with “Scottish Lass” – to be honest I think I’ll be unsubscribing to Mahalo Daily.
Even when negative, however, feedback is feedback, and the Mahalo Vlog Idol competition has certainly been successful at generating that, no argument there.
The Verdict
Even though the Mahalo Vlog Idol competition has had its flaws, it’s my opinion that overall the competition has been a success. As far as I know, no popular podcast in the history of webcasting has tried to involve its audience to the degree that the Mahalo Daily team has. I think it speaks volumes that the gang tried to get the input of the entire viewing membership on an important decision, and has definitely been an enormous step in the right direction for podcasting in general. Props to the entire team.
If I had to make any recommendations for future similar endeavors, I’d suggest three things. First, try to be as transparent as possible so that the viewing audience can see exactly what you’re looking for in a contestant and work towards those aims. Second, work on being more positive, as a positive presence from within leads to a more positive presence in the community in general. Lastly, try to be short and sweet. The Mahalo Vlog Idol competition has gone on for much too long.
Your Turn
If you’ve kept up with Mahalo Vlog Idol competition and have any ideas to share, I’d love to hear them. If you can fill in any of the missing pictures in this writeup, your information would be appreciated too. Even if you haven’t watched all the episodes but have an opinion just after reading this post, chime in! In particular, any thoughts from Jason or the Mahalo Daily team would be wonderful.
Sometime tomorrow, the results of the Mahalo Vlog Idol competition will be released. My prediction? We’ll soon be seeing Ms. Leah D’Emilio on our computers, iPods and iPhones, or other media players within a couple of weeks.
However, if the following quote from Mr. Calacanis has any significance, we might even be seeing two Mahalo Idols!
I can not say who the winner–or winnerS–are. . Results come out midnight tomorrow (pst).
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Mahalo Vlog Idol: a success or failure?
by Andy DeSoto on June 5, 2008
About two months ago, host Veronica Belmont announced she was leaving the podcast Mahalo Daily for another project. As much of the show’s success was due in part to her contributions, Founder and CEO of Mahalo Jason Calacanis realized that another charismatic host needed to be found, and fast. In an unusual move, Calacanis and the Mahalo Daily producers decided to have an American Idol-style showdown to determine who would be the new co-host of Mahalo Daily and complement to the talented Lon Harris. Over the course of about a month, over 100 “contestants” battled it out to try and garner this position, but the process has had its ups and downs. On the eve of the announcement of who the winner will be, I review these ups and downs and try to determine whether, overall, the aptly yet awkwardly-named Mahalo Vlog Idol competition has been a success or a failure.
The Premise
First off, I question whether or not an American Idol-styled competition is best for determining the co-host of a webshow. I’m not really sure why Calacanis and company chose to take this route in the first place; perhaps podcast views were dropping and the team decided an attempt at revitalization was necessary, it’s hard to say. If this was the goal, though, I’m not sure this was the decision to make. Unlike the actual American Idol competition, Mahalo Vlog Idol participants were competing for exposure to a very small niche; that is, podcast viewers, rather than the entire worldwide community. As a result, I don’t see the Vlog Idol competition attracting new viewers, as the only individuals interested in the outcome would be current viewers anyway. Whereas American Idol gains viewers because competitors have something of interest to the community at large, I expect the Vlog Idol initially only appealed to current viewers at best.
That being said, the idea to involve the community in choosing a new co-host is very Web 2.0 and shows a positive openness to discussion.
The Process
In the first few episodes of the Mahalo Vlog Idol, contestants came before “judges” Calacanis, Alex Albrecht, and Loren Feldman. Personally, I almost found them almost awkward to watch, as it was clear most of the young women had arrived at the Mahalo offices just as they would for a routine interview. Although the bluntness often displayed by Simon, Paula, and Randy on American Idol is a draw to the show, here, it was much closer to being a turn-off. At several times during the episode, I actually minimized my video player just so I wouldn’t have to view these poor contestants being criticized by the three judges. Although I’m sure the ladies had willfully agreed to the process, it was still uncomfortable and seemed a bit pretentious of the three web personalities to so closely mirror the American Idol judges.
Unfortunately, as the show segued into “The Bachelon,” a parody of The Bachelor, the awkwardness continued as judges continued to be largely critical. In the portion of the show where contestants were eliminated, even usually jovial Lon seemed cold as he requested that eliminated participants “please leave immediately.”
Things began to heat up and get more interactive as the six semifinalists each produced their own Mahalo Daily episode to be voted on in the community. In an unusual partnership with Seesmic, the competition offered a Macbook Air to the best video comment regarding the six episodes. Unfortunately, only about 20 video comments were left, which meant each video comment cost the companies around $90 each; it’s unlikely that the reward generated enough interest to be worth that investment. Strangely, almost 400 non-video comments were posted, making me wonder if individuals misunderstood the promotion. Still that means each comment was worth around $4.50 to Mahalo and Seesmic, and I’m not sure if I’d consider that to be a success.
Lastly, as an added complication, some sort of tampering seemed to occur with the Zoho-integrated voting widget embedded on the voting page; it was clear many individuals voted more than once, and some contestants seemed to have the support of hackers and spammers as numbers fluctuated widely, with one contestant going from last to first place overnight.
After the voting debacle, there seemed to be more behind-the-scenes trouble as two contestants did not show up for the taping of the The Apprentice-themed shows. I don’t think there’s been any official word out as to why the two girls failed to show, but it’s possible that the protracted audition process was beginning to get to them. I’d love to hear from one of the Mahalo Daily staff members about what happened.
Once the six semifinalists were narrowed down to two, Andrea Rene and Leah D’Emilio, they were asked to create a viral video for the final portion of the competition. Although this task seemed almost too difficult to me at first, I was pleasantly surprised by Ms. D’Emilio’s job on a parody of Mariah Carey’s “Touch My Body,” which has garnered almost 100,000 hits. You can view this video below:
As you can see, it’s pretty well done. Overall, despite the awkwardness and touch too much criticism on the part of the judges, I’d say the format was a relative success– heck, if even Tila Tequila gets involved, it must be something!
The Feedback
Unfortunately for the Mahalo Daily team, however, feedback from viewers has not been positive. First off, many of the comments in the Mahalo Daily threads have been combatative, hostile, or insulting. One viewer wrote:
Also, many commenters seemed to think the contest has gone on for much too long. Wrote one individual:
Perhaps worst of all, some Mahalo Daily viewers have even sworn that they’ll stop watching the webshow altogether as a result of this competition:
Even when negative, however, feedback is feedback, and the Mahalo Vlog Idol competition has certainly been successful at generating that, no argument there.
The Verdict
Even though the Mahalo Vlog Idol competition has had its flaws, it’s my opinion that overall the competition has been a success. As far as I know, no popular podcast in the history of webcasting has tried to involve its audience to the degree that the Mahalo Daily team has. I think it speaks volumes that the gang tried to get the input of the entire viewing membership on an important decision, and has definitely been an enormous step in the right direction for podcasting in general. Props to the entire team.
If I had to make any recommendations for future similar endeavors, I’d suggest three things. First, try to be as transparent as possible so that the viewing audience can see exactly what you’re looking for in a contestant and work towards those aims. Second, work on being more positive, as a positive presence from within leads to a more positive presence in the community in general. Lastly, try to be short and sweet. The Mahalo Vlog Idol competition has gone on for much too long.
Your Turn
If you’ve kept up with Mahalo Vlog Idol competition and have any ideas to share, I’d love to hear them. If you can fill in any of the missing pictures in this writeup, your information would be appreciated too. Even if you haven’t watched all the episodes but have an opinion just after reading this post, chime in! In particular, any thoughts from Jason or the Mahalo Daily team would be wonderful.
Sometime tomorrow, the results of the Mahalo Vlog Idol competition will be released. My prediction? We’ll soon be seeing Ms. Leah D’Emilio on our computers, iPods and iPhones, or other media players within a couple of weeks.
However, if the following quote from Mr. Calacanis has any significance, we might even be seeing two Mahalo Idols!
Tagged as: alex albrecht, american idol, Features, jason calacanis, loren feldman, mahalo daily, mahalo.com, podcasting, veronica belmont, web 2.0