The road to fame for a would-be pop idol is no longer limited to competitive tv shows on big networks. Talent is taken online by Google Idol, which puts publicly submitted videos from Google Video in a head-to-head knockout tournament of 4 heats and 2 semi finals leading up to a grand final.

Google Idol's Australian founder came up with the idea after seeing the huge amount of attention two Dutch girls generated with their lip-synching videos on Google Video. (The website has no official connection to Google or to American Idol.)

The website's visitors are the contest's judges, and can vote for their favourite Gidol once a day. Google Idol's goal is to "unearth the world's talent": the fact that it's global is one of its charms, but Springwise thinks a local version would do equally well. For aspiring media moguls, the web is the place to be: with an audience of 1 billion, broadband galore, and an extensive web of blogs and micro-publications taking care of the necessary word of mouth, they can create, launch and 'broadcast' an entertainment format without needing the massive machinery of, in this case, the Idols empire. Although they would make great buyers for the format once it's up and running, of course ;-)

Source: Springwise