Sony Currently Soliciting Bids For Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune Streaming Rights
TikTok has the opportunity to do the funniest thing imaginable.
Sony Pictures is finally bringing Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy! into the streaming era, according to an article in the New York Times. The studio is shopping around streaming rights for both game shows, with and they’re looking to lock down a deal by April. Starting in September, the winning bidder can stream new episodes the day after they air, with exclusive same-day rights available in 2028.
The move follows the trend of legacy TV shifting to digital platforms, as seen with WWE Raw on Netflix and the NFL on Amazon Prime. Sony sees this as a way to future-proof the franchises, which still draw around seven million nightly viewers, but a mass of that demographic is above 65. Pop Culture Jeopardy! on Amazon seems to be doing well, and the demographic for streaming is exactly what Sony needs to keep these franchises relevant moving forward.
With 425 episodes produced annually and $175 million in ad revenue last year, Jeopardy! and Wheel offer streamers a chance to build daily engagement and attract advertisers. The shift won’t affect existing syndication deals (although the rights to day-after and same-day releases will definitely cause major backlash from syndicators in a few years), but it’s a clear signal that Sony sees streaming as the best way to keep these icons relevant for decades to come. (Hey guys, maybe you could make a good Jeopardy! video game while you’re at it?)
