According to Podrazik, audiences identify hosts with their game shows partly because of the vibe a good game show host creates. “It's fun. It's pleasant. It's warm. And these hosts are not controversial.”
The lack of controversy also means that game shows are a good bet for brand safety for advertisers, according to Jeff Greenfield, chief operating officer and co-founder of C3 Metrics, which measures the effectiveness of digital and traditional media. Greenfield said that game shows, unlike scripted programming, veer “away from any type of controversy.”
Greenfield also cites the “absolutely massive” reach of the genre as a plus, a point supported by Fran Shea, executive vice president of programming and marketing for the Game Show Network.
Shea noted that advertisers come to her network for its audiences, which “are loyal, consistent and engaged.”
And to retain those audiences, good hosts, according to Shea, need to be “warm, relatable and encouraging” and set the pacing and tone of the program. The loss of a host can be problematic, given the role they play in a viewer’s daily life.
“Because many of these shows are daily experiences and even appointment viewing, the hosts become important personalities in the lives of viewers,” she said. “The change or loss of a host poses a serious challenge to the producers of the show.”
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