By Dan Gebler, NewsFactor.com
The nominations for the 73rd Annual Academy Awards are in, and the winners are... well, you choose.
With so many Internet sites devoted to hyping the Oscar award presentations, to be held in Los Angeles on March 25th, Web surfers have an unprecedented opportunity to play the role of academy balloters and cast their votes in online polls.
The interactive polls come in a variety of formats and appear on many different kinds of sites. But while millions of Hollywood fans are voicing their opinions interactively, there is debate about how Hollywood insiders are using the growing amount of feedback offered by the general Internet public.
Mitch Rubenstein, CEO of Hollywood Media Corp. (Nasdaq:HOLL - news), which owns Hollywood.com, tells NewsFactor Network that the main reason online polling has become so popular is simply its entertainment value.
"It's fun, and that's why you have award shows," Rubenstein said. "People have in their minds who they think or want to be the winner. They're betting and hoping, just like their favorite football team and baseball team."
Hollywood.com is promoting an Oscar poll contest that lets users pick winners from the nominees in each category, and also win Oscar-related prizes such as DVDs, Rubenstein said.
After the nominations were released on Tuesday morning, the most common place to find an Oscar poll was on the major news networks' Web sites and on entertainment sites. Sites such as CNN.com and Disney's MrShowbiz.go.com are capitalizing on Oscar hype to keep Web surfers clicking, and to extend the duration of their page views.
CNN.com and MrShowbiz, for example, both offer polls on which movie should win the best picture award, and which actor has been unfairly left out of the parade of nominations -- Gladiator is currently in the lead, and the omission of Michael Douglas for his role in Wonder Boys seems especially glaring.
CNN.com is also offering an interactive online Oscar quiz, asking fans tricky questions to extend the duration of page views on the site for as long as possible.
But while such informal 'quick vote' polls are entertaining ways to keep users clicking, the Internet hosts other venues where Hollywood insiders are keeping close tabs on public opinion.
For example, there's the online Hollywood Stock Exchange (HSX), where Oscar fun is more than just a seasonal sport for online Hollywood aficionados. At HSX, movie fans invest considerable time, energy and imaginary Hollywood dollars all year round.
HSX has grown into a such a significant online community over the past several years that Hollywood insiders commonly use it to gauge public opinion regarding their movie projects. Hollywood "investors" use imaginary HSX dollars to trade in shares of their favorite films -- including movies already in general release and those in developmental stages -- and even in the popularity of certain celebrities.
For the Oscar season, HSX has established a special section where investors can purchase stock options for each Oscar category. Investors who pick a winner can cash out their options at a 500 percent dividend and collect prizes.
Querying the public can be fun, but polls rarely tell movie biz insiders things they don't already know.
"Polling in and of itself is just one thing and is not definitive," Rubenstein told NewsFactor. "People tend to vote pretty much along box-office lines, so you don't need a poll to tell you what's the most popular movie."
And Hollywood keeps close track of its box office returns. Rubenstein's Hollywood Media Corp. also sells listings of movie show times to newspapers and other media outlets across the United States, and sells movie tickets over the Web at MovieTickets.com.
The growing presence of Oscar hysteria and interactive polls on the Web may be good for clicks, but the Academy is sure to go its own way when it comes time to select the winners for Oscar night.
And if Web surfers disagree with the results? Look out for those interactive online polls.
� 2001 NewsFactor.com