Monday, September 09, 2013

The Million Second Quiz

The Million Second Quiz premières tonight on NBC.



Where Simon Cowell understood the way things were going 5 years ago (or so) and created 'event' shows that both demanded to be watched live, and also created short clips perfect for YouTube, the Million Second Quiz aims to create something that can be played along on mobile before, after and during the show.

The concept is this:

The quiz runs continually in real time for 1 million seconds, or about 12 days.  There is a nightly live TV show.

Contestants battle to stay in the 'money chair' and win money for $10 each second they can stay there, in a 'winner-stays-on' against other contestants.  (So theoretically if someone stayed in the chair for the full million seconds the prize would be $10m)

Contestants have to answer the question in 5 seconds

It's live, so the questions are potentially written every day

Contestants live in the studio for the entire time, a bit like Big Brother, or Deal or No Deal

The top four players cumulatively are placed on 'Winners Row' and at the end of the quiz these four get to play for an additional $2m.


The interesting bits for me are:

There's an app, which is already live, and millions of games have already been played on it

It's live, with a set cast of contestants, so you can root for your favourite


There are going to be lots of talking points.  You can follow the show on Twitter & Facebook,  & Instagram and they are using hashtags like #MoneyChair and #MSQ
I've called these things wrong before, but let's see how this one plays out.  If it's a success, expect to see it in lots of other countries very soon.

Update - It seems from this review that it's all a bit complicated...

Update - Now that it's over it seems like it didn't work in the ratings, peaking on 5.4m for the finale

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