Live trivia apps like HQ Trivia, Cash Show, The Q and Beat the Q are creating opportunities for advertisers, according to an upcoming report by Magid.
Magid’s 2018 Mobile Lifestyle study, which will be released in June, asked 2,500 mobile users about their participation in streaming games “such as HQ Trivia.” They found that 63 percent were aware of such games, with 29 percent having played in the last month.
The top reasons for using live trivia apps is to test their knowledge, pass the time and win real money, the report found. Among respondents who play online streaming games at least once a week, 37 percent play to win exclusive prizes.
Nike became one of HQ Trivia’s first sponsors in March, offering a shared $100,000 prize and limited edition Air Max shoes to the 100 winners. A few days later, Warner Bros. sponsored the app’s largest prize pool to date—$250,000—to promote the release of Ready Player One.
While Magid’s survey did not ask about sponsors in particular, the analyst firm says that interactive games create an “authentic engagement opportunity” for brands.
“The proactive engagement that the consumer has with a livestream game makes it a very compelling advertising platform,” Jill Rosengard Hill, executive vice president of Magid told AListDaily.
HQ Trivia hosts games for just 15 minutes at a time twice a day and simultaneously engages two million people.
“It’s much more akin to the live tune-in of a major event like the finale of The Voice or American Idol,” Hill pointed out. “To have two million people tune in promptly at the [same time] is incredible. It’s what television networks spend millions of dollars promoting to drive tune-ins to a program. And yet, a livestreaming app with very little advertising is driving in between 1-2 million people a night to this common social-cultural experience. It’s fascinating.”
Hill also draws attention to how engaged users are while participating with live trivia apps. Unlike TV, during which many viewers multitask, trivia requires a user’s full attention if they hope to win.
“The ROI on engaging with HQ for 15 minutes for the consumers is very high, therefore the advertiser has a greater opportunity in engaging the consumer because of their active, short engagement with the HQ content,” said Hill.
Magid found that among respondents who played livestreaming games, 71 percent were between the ages of 18-34, skew male at 55 percent and at 64 percent, are more likely to have children in the home. These live trivia game participants tend to educated and employed full-time, Magid also found. In fact, 41 percent of those who played live streaming games within the last 30 days claim a household income of $75,000 or more. Fifty-four percent are college graduates and 56 percent hold full-time jobs.
