Old Game Show Network Reinvents Itself With Interactivity

Filed in archive Business Trends on August 6, 2007

The Game Show Network (err, excuse me they were renamed with the ever so trendy new moniker: GSN) has a new program called Without Prejudice? The New York Times describes it this way:

The 60-minute episodes examine how participants judge their peers, based on their views of hot-button topics (like gun control and immigration) and their reactions to moral dilemmas (like whether to try to return a cellphone left in a taxi to its owner). The network is also encouraging viewer reaction through online polls and chat rooms on its Web site, www.gsn.com.

I guess this is a departure from the family feud and Newlywed Shows normally on display at GSN.

Interactivity is a trend that you will see much more of in the near future. Without Prejudice? is just such a show because it asks viewers to play along at home using computers, and some original online games - like one mocking Mel Gibson's drunken tirade in 2006 and Paris Hilton's recent stay in jail - have been played more than a million times each. The network is also experimenting with mobile phone applications and TV remote control game play.




Interactivity also creates new opportunities for advertisers, as well as encouraging viewers to watch shows live, rather than taping them to watch later: Mr. Cronin, the CEO, calls GSN a "Tivo-proof network." About a third of the network's advertisers have packages that include interactivity, meaning that Web players can win prizes for correctly answering questions about commercials.

GSN's next entry, a month long quiz show tournament called "Grand Slam," is also designed to promote interactivity. As 16 of the country's top game-show contestants face off in a studio, viewers will be able to play along at home.