As well as its implementation of standard quiz game conventions, CNN Challenge takes on a more nuanced and intricate approach to online news trivia. Many of these subtleties were revealed in an interview with Kay Madati, current Vice President of Audience Experience at CNN. In our talk with him, we discussed the ways in which CNN Challenge is important on its own as a quiz game. More importantly, however, Madati explains how it fits into a larger, more complex structure that extends beyond notions of play. Instead, the game can be useful as a platform through which other purposes can be served within the CNN organization.
As a game, the player must last through two rounds of trivia--as well
as a lightning round--all of which follow a similar structure of
answering five multiple choice questions while a timer counts down. A
player accrues points depending on how quickly he or she chooses the
correct answer. Additionally, the questions in each round correspond to
each of the Five W's: who, what, when, where and why. The content of
the questions range from the political (e.g. "What year ...") to more
entertainment-related events (e.g. "Whose house was the finale of this
season's Amazing Race?"). The real strength of CNN Challenge, however, is how it evolves beyond its own purpose as a vehicle for entertainment in order to support other goals that aren't typically associated with the medium of games. The very fact that CNN created this game is demonstrative of this. As Madati suggested, one of the virtues of CNN Challenge is that it encourages viewers to be informed and engaged, as well creating space for playfulness. Newsbin is a good example of this insofar as it allows players to stay within the game and read the context of a trivia question simultaneously.
In this way, the game is useful as it converges entertainment and education. In addition to this, the content in the game is varied, which introduces players to other topics in the news with which they might not usually engage. CNN Challenge provides a unique opportunity to use entertainment as a means of broadening players' interests and potentially introducing them to new interests and avenues of information.
Though variety is useful, one option that Madati explored was expanding upon the CNN Challenge structure in order to support different kinds of content. For example, CNN hosted a special version of the game on Thanksgiving Day that featured Anderson Cooper as the sole host albeit in a different role: while Cooper is normally a personality from Anderson Cooper 360°, this particular CNN Challenge was focused on CNN Heroes, of which Cooper is also the host. This allowed CNN the chance to feature content from the show instead of its usual news content.
That is, this has potential for CNN to cater its content to particular audiences: not only can players learn more about other categories of news, but they could also pursue their own interests in greater detail, which could potentially encourage a more informed audience. This model of content delivery also serves purposes within the CNN organization itself; in this way, CNN Challenge functions as a way to bolster a particularly business model. In the same way that the game can draw players' attention to other news topics, the game can also be a way for advertisers to support sections of the news from which they usually shy away. Typically, hard news is an avenue that advertisers tend to avoid. However, by advertising in a game--as opposed to a traditional news story--this is a way of hybridizing not only different types of news, but also content and advertising.
The latter can be achieved in two ways through both form
and content. Current iterations of CNN Challenge, for instance,
incorporate advertisements by Ford and Microsoft by adapting the ad
itself to the quiz. At each of the two 'breaks' between rounds, the ad
appears in the form of a trivia question; the first break provides the
question for the user to respond to, while the second break provides
the correct answer. This creates a more compelling game experience
insofar as the advertisement is less obtrusive, while extending the
play experience beyond the three rounds. Similarly, with the
introduction of more focused content, this would create the opportunity
for more focused advertisements (e.g. a sports section that advertised
local teams).In addition to all this, CNN Challenge is significant in that it is indicative of a shift in perception: games are no longer simply means of entertaining an audience, but can be a meaningful way of interacting with them. One possibility that Madati entertained was the chance to use CNN Challenge as a way to "reverse engineer" a program. If a game is popular enough, this suggests that there is an established and dedicated audience that is interested in a particular subject. Rather than only build only spaces to support existing programs, CNN could theoretically create a show in order to cater to an online space.
Games could be an interesting way of advancing traditional methods of audience analysis: as viewers play CNN Challenge, for example, what they play (as well as how long, etc.) is indicative of what kind of content they are seeking. In this way, the game extends the CNN organization in a more holistic way: rather than simply focusing on television, the online space of CNN Challenge could be a hub for creating and maintaining connections. The same affordances that a game provides--such as flexibility and spontaneity--can translate into meaningful ways of creating and tailoring content for news audiences in more interesting and engaging ways.
