With streaming, game shows have an entirely new audience

In addition to fueling the evolution of how people watch TV, the proliferation of streaming services and content is broadening the appeal of certain genres to new audiences. And perhaps nowhere is that more evident right now than it is within game and quiz show programming.

There’s no denying that the overwhelming majority of game and quiz shows were developed for traditional TV, but many have migrated to streaming platforms, where they are engaging with new audiences. Additionally, some, such as Floor is Lava, Is it Cake? and Bullsh*t, are only available on streaming platforms. In aggregate, streaming has effectively changed the profile of the game show audience.

The shift is another example of how schedule factors into viewer engagement. When we look at linear television, more than half (56%) of the game and quiz show audience in May 2022 was 65 and older. That’s not surprising when you think about the prevalence of game shows in the morning and evening hours—“dayparts” when many consumers aren’t free to relax in front of the TV. But when you take the schedule out of the equation—the genre attracts an entirely different age group.

And in many cases, these younger streaming audiences represent the heads of household.

Perhaps most interesting is the fact that more than half (54%) of the linear game show audience lives in a household with an enabled smart TV, and 63% subscribe to a streaming video on demand (SVOD) service.

Content is increasingly becoming more available on streaming platforms, which provides viewers with the ability to watch when they want. It also gives audiences that don’t watch linear programming the chance to see shows they might otherwise miss. Streaming platforms are also engaging audiences with library content that originally aired on linear TV.

Today, it’s rare to see content solely available to linear TV audiences. In fact, Nielsen’s State of Play report found that just 16% of the titles that are available are exclusive to linear TV¹. That, combined with the fact that streaming claimed the largest viewership share of total TV usage in both July and August 2022, serve as further evidence that streaming-first mindsets—inclusive of quiz and game shows—will be best positioned to engage audiences as video channel fragmentation continues.

Note

1. Gracenote Global Video Data