We specialise in turning entertainment properties into mobile apps but even we have been taken aback by the success of one of our first licenses – Catch Phrase (the original show with Roy Walker). We first licensed the brand in 2010 and released an iPhone only version on the Apple iOS platform. iPad and Kindle Fire versions quickly followed and the App has since sold so many apps across Apple iOS & the Amazon App Store, it is now one of the best selling Apps ever in the UK.
According to Flurry, the App has had over 7 million plays since launch, with an average playing time of 4.8 minutes giving a total playing time of 500,000+ hours to date!
So why the blog now? Well in case you missed it, Catch Phrase is back on ITV prime time with a modern take on the classic show with Stephen Mulhern filling the shoes of Roy Walker. The show did very well on its debut last night with 4.81 million viewers (23%) and #catchphrase trending on Twitter. The buzz of the show airtime being announced on ITV1’s This Morning and the broadcasting of the actual show had a massive impact on the App sales.
See the Apps chart positions prior to the announcement, and during the broadcast on ITV 1 yesterday.
The graph below shows the iPhone App and iPad usage – the first spike is when Stephen Mulhern announced when the show was coming back and Ruth Langsford mentioned on air that she liked our app. The second spike is the TV broadcast of the app.
This correlation should be obvious – a brand you have licensed is on TV so the usage and sales goes up right? Well, our experience is that this is not always the case. We have licenses to well known TV brands that are broadcast weekly on the mainstream broadcasters and the sales and usage is nominal between the show being on air, off air or on a mid season break.
It is difficult to exactly quantify why Catch Phrase has been such a success but the fact that the original show defined the ‘family game show’ genre for the majority of people in Britain over the age of 30 has certainly contributed. Chris Moyles playing “Car Park Catchphrase” with Roy Walker during the latter years of his tenure at Radio 1 morning show brought the show (and Roy Walker) to a whole new generation broadening the appeal of the app and therefore increasing its audience. However, as with all Apps, the key is the gameplay. The show itself is perfect for a mobile app as it has visual and entertaining content combined with a quiz element – all the ingredients for a successful game show app!
The appeal of Catch Phrase rolls on and on……
You can download the Classic Catch Phrase on Apple iTunes here
The App is also available on Kindle Fire via the Amazon App Store