In this interview with CalvinAyre.com’s Rebecca Liggero, Simon Murphy of FremantleMedia shares how television and bingo firms can mutually benefit from each other.
There is something about television game shows that hook viewers around the world. In the U.S., game shows like the Price is Right, Sale of the Century or Hollywood Squares have been instant hits to families staying in the scorching summer days.
Perhaps one of the reasons why game shows appeal to everyone is the fact a large segment of TV audience with an appetite for programming wants to see a show that will not require any binge-watching to catch up on plot points.
Viewers can also easily relate to the players in the game show and as Angelica McDaniel, Executive Vice President, Daytime Programs at CBS Entertainment, points it out in a June interview of Los Angeles Times that “at the end of the day, people like to see other people win.”
The challenge for TV shows, however, lies on retaining the interest of the viewers.
For Simon Murphy of Fremantle Media, television companies may get some pointers from the gambling industry and likewise, gambling firms may learn things on how to improve its products from the TV. That’s why he suggests that bingo operators and television companies must forge a deeper partnership to help improve their products.
“When I talk about deep partnership, I like to see there the gaming guys and the TV guys getting together at a much earlier stage. So that you create a TV format that has a gaming DNA built in to it at the outset because obviously if you do that, that makes the extension a lot easier at the back of it,” Murphy told CalvinAyre.com. “So that’s the big area that I’d like to see more development and that requires both parties coming together and working a lot more closely together than perhaps they have even so far.”
Murphy cited the success of his company’s partnership with Jackpotjoy, which has stood out above the rest when it comes to success.
For online bingo sites, he suggested that they both have branded names and sponsorship.
“It’s great to have a sponsorship and but then you are directing people to an experience that doesn’t have the same brands involve and they kinda lose the benefit of the sponsorship. I think you need to really have both elements. Sponsorship driving the traffic to the games that are branded,” he said.
