Let’s talk about game shows!

Have you ever thought about being on a game show on TV such as the Family Feud? Have you thought about using your knowledge to win cash money under thousands of people’s eyes? Well, that used to be on my wishlist. However, I watch the show to gain more knowledge before, but now, I seldom watch them, not because I do not want to learn, simply because there is more ways for me to learn something, and now I know what I am interested in, so I will figure out myself, instead of collecting random knowledge based on whatever the game show has provided me to learn.

Now, since I am in the Marketing class, when I watch game show on TV, I have further thoughts in my mind — how is the game show making profit for giving away so many prices to competitors?

Well, the truth is, game shows normally receive a large range of viewers in all age groups, so, as a perfect promoting channel, companies invest money (sponsorship) to the TV station and the program itself, to make implantable advertising in the show, to create a great marketing influence. It’s a win-win situation and nobody will dislike it even if it’s a commercial.

As I was reading Malte Otremba’s Blog post “Rewards for watching your favourite TV shows and commercials” He introduced an application which rewards viewers for simply watching TV programs:

“To put it in a nutshell, Viggle is a TV loyalty program that gives people real rewards for checking into the TV shows they are currently watching. The application automatically identifies what shows its users are watching and awards them points when they “check-in”. For every TV-minute customers earn two points and bonus points can be received by watching certain series or commercials. These points can be redeemed for real items of well-known companies such as Amazon, Apple, Gap, Sephora etc.“

Notice how the sentence in red tells us a truth that, this application is not only advertising and promoting for TV stations but also sponsor companies  such as Amazon, Apple, Gap, Sephora etc to gain more sales and fame. The same relationship as views watching a game show or participating a game show and winning money.

The above phenomenon is caused by the emergence of Internet and loss of TV viewers in digital generation as people gets what they want instantly , but do not wish to waste time waiting for a show to begin.

A clip for a romantic game show will tell you why people love watching it, it is super interactive and dramatic, isn’t it?