VANCOUVER, Canada (AFP) — News organizations are racing to add puzzles and games to their digital offerings, hoping to replicate the success of a strategy The New York Times has been quietly perfecting for years — and is now taking to primetime television.
United States broadcaster NBC is producing a game show based on the word puzzle Wordle to be hosted by morning TV news anchor Savannah Guthrie, with a premiere set for 2027.
For Jonathan Knight, the Times' head of games, it is the logical extension of a property that has become a global phenomenon.
"Wordle kind of blew the doors open in terms of being very approachable — anybody can do it," Knight told Agence France-Presse on the sidelines of the Web Summit in Vancouver, Canada.
The road to greenlight the TV show took around two and a half years, Knight said, with the Times insisting on co-producing rather than simply licensing the name.
"It's Hollywood, you never know. Everyone believed in the idea of it. But then, will it be good? Will it be true to Wordle? Those are all questions we had to answer through a development process."
The television deal is the latest chapter in a growth story that evolved over time.
Knight arrived at the Times games division in 2020 to find Spelling Bee and the traditional crossword as the main app attractions.
Spelling Bee, launched in 2018 and adapted from a print puzzle, had already begun pulling in a younger audience with its mobile format and ranking system.