Introduction:

Beast Games, an Amazon Prime original in which 1,000 contestants compete to win a grand prize of $5,000,000, received 50 million viewers in just its first 24 hours. This makes it the largest unscripted show the website has ever seen. Meanwhile, more traditional competition shows like Jeopardy! and Family Feud have slowly seen their ratings decline over time. These shows definitely aren’t doing bad by any means, but it’s clear there’s been a culture shift sometime between the days of classic game shows and today. As somebody who’s loved game shows for a long while, I wanted to uncover the reasons for this, to figure out what actually happened to the genre?

Reason 1 - Attention:

In the first 60 seconds of Beast Games’ run-time, I counted 22 cuts, 12 different sound effects, and enough bright lights to give me a headache. On average, the screen changes every 1.75 seconds in the show. I believe this is a very deliberate choice, made to keep viewers’ attention for as long as humanly possible. The term ‘Mr. Beastification’, named after the YouTuber behind Beast Games, is used to describe this exact trend: The rapid-fire, oversaturated, and loud nature of content, typically on YouTube, meant to increase watch-time. In an era in which everybody’s attention span is gradually getting shorter and shorter, it makes complete sense why something like Beast Games and Mr. Beastification works not only on YouTube, but beyond. However, this is only half of the story.

Reason 2 - The Era of Streaming:

Unfortunately, to figure out what happened to more traditional Game Shows, we are going to have to look back at COVID-19. Specifically, Streaming Services in 2019, right before the pandemic. Not only did dozens of streaming services come out, each with mountains of content to explore, but the average consumer started to re-evaluate their Cable TV bill. Why pay $120 a month to use traditional cable TV when you could just get a Netflix or Hulu subscription and be able to watch what you want, when you want, for cheaper? This, along with the pandemic making it so you couldn’t see movies in person anymore, exploded the streaming industry. According to a 2023 study, around 93% of households subscribe to at least one subscription service, and only 40% still pay for Cable. This is unfortunate for the classic Game Show, which relies mostly on the fact of it being on in the background the majority of the time. While many are available to stream on certain platforms, it’s clear that it’s not the same, and it’s hard to imagine a more classic and traditional gameshow becoming as popular as they once could today.

What Now?:

Game shows have changed as a result of an audience who wants more action, happening quicker, all in one place. The classic format of many game shows simply can’t do all that, meanwhile, more new-fashioned competition shows like Beast Games can. However, this isn’t to say that the traditional game show is going anywhere anytime soon. In fact, at the beginning of 2022, Jeopardy! became the most viewed non-sports broadcast. The reason? Amy Schneider’s win streak, making her one of only 4 contestants to win over a million dollars on the show. This isn’t just a recent phenomenon either. In fact, all of the top 20 most viewed episodes of the iconic show are either from Ken Jennings’ or James Holzhauer’s infamous runs. I believe there is a clear reason as for why this is, and it’s also the ultimate way for game shows to continue on into the modern generation: A story.

People want to get invested in shows, and when you have a naturally talented and funny become captivated. They keep tuning in, wanting to know how long the contestant can keep it up, and how they grow overtime. This is something that Beast Games does very well, creating several plot lines, main characters, and villains. Coming from somebody who has had a deep admiration for the game show since a very young age, I don’t believe the game show is going anywhere. While we are living through a general preference change in which the bigger, the flashier, the better, I can’t imagine anything replacing the classic, traditional, and cozy vibe of the classic game show. And that’s my final answer.

Works Cited

Cobb, Kayla. ““Beast Games” Becomes Prime Video’s Most-Watched Unscripted Show Ever with 50 Million Global Viewers.” Msn.com, 2025, www.msn.com/en-us/tv/news/beast-games-becomes-prime-video-s-most-watched-unscripted-show-ever-with-50-million-global-viewers/ar-AA1xkvRf. Accessed 31 Jan. 2025.

Grcar, Anja. “The History of Streaming Services: From Netflix to Disney+ and beyond - Race Communications.” Race Communications, 30 Sept. 2024, race.com/blog/history-of-streaming-services/.

Jennings, Rebecca. “The Mr. Beastification of Entertainment.” Vox, 18 Mar. 2024, www.vox.com/culture/24105035/mr-beast-youtube-amazon-show.

Lovely, Stephen. “2023 State of Streaming Report.” Cordcutting.com, 15 Mar. 2023, cordcutting.com/research/state-of-streaming-report/.

MrBeast. “Beast Games Episode 1 (First 10 Minutes).” YouTube, 22 Dec. 2024, www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4smAxDtbGc. Accessed 31 Jan. 2025.

Roth, Eliza. “The Biggest “Jeopardy!” Winners of All Time.” TheMix.net, 29 Jan. 2025, www.themix.net/tv-shows/lists/the-biggest-jeopardy-winners-of-all-time. Accessed 31 Jan. 2025.

Tyler Aquilina. ““Jeopardy” Ratings Soar amid Amy Schneider’s Winning Streak.” EW.com, 2022, ew.com/tv/jeopardy-highest-rated-non-sports-show-week-of-dec-27/. Accessed 31 Jan. 2025.