When Itv Started In 1955 Their Top Quiz Show Was "double Your Money"

[gollob]

The top prize was £1,000 yet 64 years later there are still quizzes only playing a maximum prize of that money today. Eggheads and Pointless is still £1,000 per day. On Tenable today the final prize Of £1,000 was won but it had to be divided by 5 people and it was an hour programme So why are not prizes not better today

[Buenchico]

On commercial channels, prizes are funded (in part, at least) from advertising revenue. With far more TV channels than there used to be having to share the available revenue between them, and with many advertisers moving away from expensive TV advertising to cheaper (and often more effective) social media promotions, ITV has seen over a 90% drop in its 'real terms' income from advertising and struggles to survive. So they won't be rushing to give large sums of money away in prizes. (In practice most quiz shows are made by independent companies who have to sell them to commercial channels. They need to keep their prices low in order for those cash-strapped channels to afford them, so they have to keep their own expenses as low as possible).

The BBC has always eschewed the use of high-value prizes for its competitions, preferring to see the pleasure of taking part, and then hopefully of winning, as reward in itself. (Double Your Money based its format on the US show 'The 64 Thousand Dollar Question". The BBC regarded such things as anathema to them and their viewers, regarding them as distinctly 'un-British'). For example the winner of Mastermind receives nothing but the trophy.

[gingejbee]

The quick answer...you're not comparing like-for-like

[hc4361]

The best quiz shows don't have cash prizes - Mastermind, Only Connect, Countdown, University Challenge, Krypton Factor.
University Challenge is the longest running game show and doesn't need the lure of lucre.

[Baldric]

Teams who have defeated the Eggheads
Team name . . . . . . . . . Episode . . . . . . Prize money
The Family Connection Series 13, Episode 65 £12,000
Dad's Army Series 13, Episode 83 £18,000
The Hole in the Wall Gang Series 13, Episode 85 £2,000
UNOS Series 13, Episode 89 £4,000