Voting For The Worst On ‘American Idol’ Makes Money For An Entrepreneur
NYTimes:
There is something about ‘American Idol‘ that extracts intense emotions from the audience: devotion for the contestants, perhaps, or passion for the songs. For Dave Della Terza, it elicits utter disgust. But it also turns a profit.
Frustrated by what he called the manipulative nature of the televised singing competition, Mr. Della Terza started encouraging readers of a reality television message board 5 years ago to vote for the contestants they deemed the worst singers.
The idea spawned a Web site, Vote for the Worst, which received widespread attention last year for supporting the singer Sanjaya Malakar as he advanced in the competition.
For Mr. Della Terza, what started as a hobby has become a business. Last year, the site had revenue of roughly $40,000, Mr. Della Terza said, mostly through Google Ads. While some of the income paid for computer servers and legal fees, the site still made a profit, allowing Mr. Della Terza to take some days off work to maintain the increasingly popular site.
Mr. Della Terza is far from the only person cashing in on the ‘American Idol‘ juggernaut. The publisher of the popular ‘Chicken Soup for the Soul’ book series is promoting an Idol-themed edition. Walt Disney World is adding an Idol attraction to its Hollywood Studios theme park. Royal Caribbean International is embarking on Idol cruises.
But Vote for the Worst is unique, not only because it openly mocks the competition but also because it was formed spontaneously by an Internet-connected group of television viewers.
‘It didn’t start out as a moneymaking venture; it wasn’t an attempt to leech off the ‘American Idol’ brand,’ Mr. Della Terza said. ‘It started as a joke. But people really enjoyed it.’ Read more.
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