A knockoff game is trying to take on HQ Trivia by using celebrity hosts like Wyclef Jean and a $1 million prize pool

wyclef jean

Live streaming app Live.me wants to give the buzzy mobile game HQ Trivia a run for its money.
It has been heavily investing in a live trivia show called QuizBiz, which is almost identical to HQ Trivia.
But the game is differentiating itself using celebrities and other influencers to host its shows.
It is also upping the ante with a $1 million prize pool.

When Live.me was launched in 2016, it was just another live video chat app. These days, it's gearing up to give the popular gaming app HQ Trivia a run for its money.

Since December, Live.me has been heavily investing in a live trivia show called QuizBiz, which like HQ, seamlessly combines the classic game show vibe with live streaming and mobile gaming.

"We've been experimenting with different live content and formats from the beginning — we had trivia on our official channel and would ask users to comment in the stream to win," Khudor Annous, head of marketing and partnerships at Live.me, told Business Insider. "But we never thought that it could be a product in and of itself, until HQ Trivia came along."

The show is nearly identical to its buzzy and famous competitor — where a host reads out a series of 12 multiple-choice questions, and anyone who answers all 12 correctly walks away with a chunk of the prize. But unlike HQ, it airs three times a day instead of two: at 3:30 p.m., 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. ET.

Challenging the incumbent and its host Scott Rogowsky is no easy feat, which is why Live.me is relying on a bevy of celebrity and other influencers to help it take on HQ Trivia, apart from its trio of rotating hosts Brad Gage, Julia Price and Chris Vanger.

The app, for instance roped in music icon Wyclef Jean recently to host a special Grammy's edition of QuizBiz, whereas YouTube prankster Roman Atwood hosted a game on Feb. 10. It has popular tween YouTuber RiceGum slated for an appearance soon.

Having recognizable names boosts viewership as well. While the app has about 50,000 people tune in per episode, a celebrity or influencer usually leads to an audience that is 5-6 times bigger. Atwood's episode, for example, raked in more than 300,000 viewers.

"The overlap between celebrity influencers and social media personalities to our target audience is very high," said Annous. "Seeing an influencer host the QuizBiz trivia show lends to a fun and engaging experience for the celebrity's fans as well as daily QuizBiz players."

While Live.me claims that it has amassed a user base of 40 million users since its launch in 2016, it wants to attract a bigger audience specifically to its QuizBiz shows. That is why it is raising the stakes in terms of the prize money. In January, thousands of winners split about $120,000 in prize money.

In February, QuizBiz has upped the ante to a $1 million prize pool. The minimum giveaway per game this month is $10,000, with special games giving away $100,000 in cash. One of the three Super Bowl-themed games ended with a winner taking home $50,000, for example.

While Live.me is indeed doubling down on QuizBiz, it is being careful not to place all its eggs in one basket. QuizBiz is part of a bigger push to create original live programming designed for the app's engaged mobile audience, but the company is also investing in other types of content.

The push will indeed be helped by the $50 million funding round that it recently received, led by Chinese internet giant Bytedance.

"We want to create different opportunities for the community to get involved in," said Annous. "It's not just about trivia, we also want to explore other games."

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