 After the first season of "NZ Idol" ended in 2004, "New Zealand Listener" columnist Russell Brown cited Idolblog as an example of how fan-run sites can build communities around programmes more effectively than broadcasters, claiming the site generated "a degree of engagement that the official Idol website never achieved".The site was featured on the TV2 programme "Flipside", and mentioned in the "New Zealand Herald" as a notable source of opinions on "NZ Idol".Idolblog won the 2004 "NetGuide" Web Award for Best Youth Site, and was a finalist in the 2006 NetGuide Web Award for Best Blog.