TMZ keeps readers on the page longer with games inside its articles

When the story ends, so does the visit

Entertainment news moves fast. A reader taps a link, reads the story and is gone before the next headline loads. Every story is a visit that could have lasted longer.

For a site that runs on advertising, that's the whole problem. Ads earn while a reader is on the page, and an entertainment story takes a minute to read. A reader who stays longer sees more of the page, and more of its ads.

Games can change that, but only if readers find them. A link in the menu won't catch someone who came for one story. The games have to be where the reader already is: inside the article.

An article slot is a tight space, though. A game there has to be compact and fast, keep the page from jumping as it loads, and never fight the reader's scroll. It also has to look like TMZ, not like an ad.

Games that make themselves

TMZ publishes all day, and nobody has time to build a game for every story. So the games are generated automatically. Playgent creates new content every day on the beats TMZ covers, from celebrity trivia to a hip-hop word search, and the games in TMZ's articles pick it up on their own. The TMZ team can review or change any question before it goes live, so the voice stays TMZ's.

TMZ's beats are made for games. Readers who follow celebrities, music and sports already know the names, the songs and the scores, so a quiz about them feels like part of the coverage.

What TMZ runs with Playgent

In the articles and on TMZ's games site, the lineup opens with TMZ Daily, a row of games themed to the beats TMZ covers, with new content every day:

• Celebrity Trivia and Music Trivia, with fresh questions daily.
• Picture games: a celebrity jigsaw, an athlete slider and an emoji memory game about movies.
• Word searches for Hollywood, sports and hip-hop.
• Daily Word, a five-letter word to guess each day.

Below TMZ Daily sit rows of word puzzles, number and logic games, and card games, all in TMZ's dark look with its signature red. Tap a game and it fills the slot, with a small back button to return. When a game ends, a Play More Games screen leads to the next one, still inside the article.

Built for the space inside an article

The games were designed for the few hundred pixels an article gives them. Square tiles sit in horizontal rows that show the edge of the next card, so readers can see there's more to swipe. There's no header taking up room, and the corners are sharp to match TMZ's own design.

During play, the game takes the whole slot, so even a compact embed has room for a full puzzle. The same games run on TMZ's games site too, so a reader who wants more can keep going.

More time on TMZ, more ad revenue

Every game keeps a reader on a TMZ page. A trivia round takes a few minutes, and the Play More Games screen at the end leads to the next game instead of back to search. Those minutes are spent on TMZ's own pages, next to TMZ's own ads, so time spent playing turns into ad revenue for TMZ.

Playgent embeds load only when a reader scrolls to them, so the story itself stays fast, and analytics show which games readers play and finish in every article.

Why TMZ chose Playgent

A game in every story only works if the content keeps coming, and if nobody has to make it. Playgent generates and schedules it, so celebrity trivia has new questions every day without anyone at TMZ writing them.

The rest comes with the platform: a catalog of more than 60 games across words, numbers, logic and trivia, themes that bring a brand's fonts, colors and corners into every game, and one snippet to place a game in any article.

Playgent also runs the games day to day: new content, fixes and new games, so TMZ's team doesn't have to staff them.

What's ahead for TMZ

Entertainment news runs on a calendar of award shows, premieres, tours and big games, and themed games can follow it. With Playgent Studio, a team can describe a game in a chat and Playgent Forge, Playgent's own agent for building puzzles, makes it, so a one-off game for a big night is a short job. Big nights bring new readers, and a themed game in the story is a natural first step into the rest of the games. Streaks, leaderboards and share cards are ready whenever TMZ wants them.

If you publish news and want readers staying on your pages to play, talk to our team.