Quiz sites catch KBC trivia-fever

The Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC) led trivia-fever, has not just sprung clones on other TV channels, but is also stoking quizzing mania on the Internet. Riding on KBC’s popularity wave and trying to drive traffic to their sites are new quizzing sites like CroreMaster.com and CrorepatiKaun.com - as well as sites like Coolbuddy.com which launched an Around the World in 30 steps Kauntest, last month.

All the me-too sites are trying to cash in on the KBC brand equity. Amit Aggarwal, CEO, Coolbuddy.com claims: "Like KBC, the Around the World Kauntest is the biggest gameshow on the Net, which offers a cash reward of Rs. 1 lakh or an around the world ticket if you answer all the 30 questions correctly."

CroreMaster.com, which will be launched next month, goes one step further. "Our fond take-off on KBC," as content incharge of CroreMaster, Amit Verma calls it, even has an image of Amitabh Bachchan asking questions and giving interesting comments. The game also offers ‘life savers’- akin to KBC’s lifelines - like 4 ka 2, Ask Babu Moshai, and Random Poll.

However, if obsession to the original gameshow is the criteria, CrorepatiKaun.com, takes the cake. It is completely dedicated to KBC. So much so that it hosts all information about the show - from details of the first KBC crorepati Harshvardhan Nawathe, to the total prize money distributed so far, to the dates on which the phone lines of KBC open next, to the Aamir Khan and Sonali Bendre episodes, to the questions asked in the TV show.
It has no alliance with the television version, according to the information given on the site. But there is more to these sites, than just love of KBC. The trivia fever is leading a lot of traffic to these sites. According to Aggarwal, the Around the World... contest has been a big hit. "People play for 3-4 hours at a stretch. Nearly, 25 per cent of the traffic on my site consists of people wanting to play this game", he added.

Adds Verma: "CroreMaster has found many takers for its beta testing version. We are getting 4 lakh page views per day, without any advertisements." However, as of now neither CrorepatiKaun, nor CroreMaster offer any prizes. Says Verma: "But all points earned on the site right now, will be redeemable as soon as the site is formally launched."

CroreMaster, which is the first in a series of games developed by a company called MindFever.com, does not intend to offer big cash awards, but small prizes. "Rather than give one massive prize to one person, we will give smaller prizes to a lot of people," said Verma.

Meanwhile, Coolbuddy has already given a first prize to Sameer Mittal, from Delhi for having answered all the questions, informed Aggarwal. Other prizes in the gameshow include a pen on exiting the game after answering the third question correctly, T-shirt on clearing the seventh question, Rs. 200 cash on the 15th correct answer, and Rs 500 cash on 20th correct answer.

Meanwhile, CroreMaster, is just one of the various game channels, Mindfever intends to set up. "MindFever.com, will be a portal with exciting games and prizes that are going to re-define interactive entertainment on the Net," said Verma.

Mindfever.com is promoted jointly by Igloo Farm and QuantumLink Communications Private Limited. While the site owners count their cash, the good news for the Netizens is that unlike KBC, the Net avtaars give the option of playing as long as you like and as many times as you like.

However, instead of grappling with the "impossible to get through" telephone lines of KBC, you now have to struggle with clogged lines to log on to the Internet. Some things never change, quiz-junkies. There’s money in them questions. Supplying quizzing content to the offline clones of KBC has also emerged as a business opportunity for CroreMaster.

Croremaster.com, which is not just focussing on the online revenue streams from its KBC version. "We will sell the quizzing database of thousands of questions, that we are building up in the process," according to Amit Verma, Content incharge, CroreMaster.com. "This will be a great area of opportunity for us, since there are many TV quiz shows, non-TV shows, like FM, which will want to license such databases, he added.

Neeraja Kumar

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