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Oscars guessing goes online
New game
Guessing who will win the next batch of Oscars has become a major focus for a new generation of online blogs.
A number of movie sites dedicated to talking about the Oscars have suddenly sprung up, mostly penned by US show biz wanna-be hacks.
Apparently they spotted a hole in the market. While people talked in the pub about which films were going to win the Oscars, there were no dedicated sites. It turns out that they were onto a money spinner, because not only are Oscar watch sites getting the punters, they are also getting attention from the movie companies who want to advertise.
Los Angeles-based journalist Tom O'Neil said that goldderby.com was set up using the concept that Hollywood's awards season was akin to a horse race. O'Neil said that fans were doing what the journalists weren't, which was covering this as a real race.
Sasha Stone, a film buff with no journalistic background, started her site awardsdaily.com because there wasn't anybody examining the race as it unfolded.
More here.