Product Designer, Monterosa, Channel 4, Endemol
Million Pound Drop: Making shouting at the TV count
Turning live television into a national, real-time game night
Context and Challenge
Channel 4 and Endemol wanted to answer a bold question:
What if people at home could play the million-pound game at the same time as the contestants in the studio?
Viewers were already shouting answers at the TV. The challenge was transforming that instinct into a synchronised, high-stakes digital experience that matched the tension, speed, and drama of the broadcast.
To make this reality we needed to deliver:
Perfect real-time sync between studio and sofa
Gameplay that felt physical and consequential
Infrastructure capable of supporting hundreds of thousands of simultaneous players
Zero friction: anyone could join instantly
The Million Pound Drop became one of the first large-scale second-screen experiences attempted on live television.
Insight
People were already “playing”, emotionally and cognitively, we just needed to close the loop.
The breakthrough insight was that the interaction needed to mirror the emotions: pressure, instinct, and the thrill of risking large amounts of money in seconds.
Approach
Recreated the studio experience
Designed tactile, drag-and-drop money mechanics that made decisions feel physical, tense, and irreversible, just like in the studio.
Built for real-time sync
Matched questions, countdowns, and results to broadcast timing using precise app–studio orchestration and audio synchronisation.
Eliminated friction
Allowed players to join instantly with near-zero onboarding. Behind the scenes, data was captured naturally during ad breaks to maximise participation at scale.
Made it social
Added real-time leaderboards and social hooks via Facebook and Twitter to spark rivalry and keep people returning each episode.
Connected both sides
Created a producer dashboard allowing Endemol teams to:
release questions live
monitor audience answers
feed insights to the presenter on-air
It was the first time many producers saw live digital insight influence broadcast narratives in real time.
Outcomes
Achieved over 3 million downloads and more than 200,000 concurrent players
12.5% of the live audience playing along
Converted 10% of users to paid gameplay and launched the UK’s first second-screen ad format.
Won the BAFTA Craft Award for Digital Creativity, setting a new standard for interactive broadcasting.
Proved that large-scale participation could feel personal and responsive.
Formed the foundations for the Monterosa Interaction Cloud, later powering Eurovision, Formula 1, Love Island, The X Factor, and global sports broadcasts
