INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Image copyrightHQ TriviaHow do you win thousands of pounds straight from your phone for free For many, the answer is the popular quiz show
app HQ Trivia.The game came to the UK in early 2018 after being released in the US the year before.The free app live-streams 15-minute quiz
shows throughout the week to millions of viewers, with a pot of money available to split between winners.People have taken home anything
Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson as a guest presenter
Answer 12 trivia-based questions correctly by tapping the answers on your phone and (a share of) the money is yours.But the question is,
how has it grown from being a fairly unknown start-up to giving away thousands of pounds with celebrity guest presentersImage copyrightHQ
TriviaImage caption
HQ Trivia's UK presenter, Sharon Carpenter
Sharon Carpenter, the presenter for the
UK edition of the app, says the live element is a key reason
"First of all you've got this live component where anything can happen," Sharon told Newsbeat."It's the same reason people love live TV, but
this you can take wherever you are."You never know how the game is going to end up - and I think because of that there is this element of
the fear of missing out."Sharon, who also reports for The Wendy Williams Show in the US, thinks HQ Trivia is "the future of television -
it's the future of broadcasting".The quiz show has been guest-hosted by some big names over the past year, from the likes of TV host Jimmy
Kimmel to Bert from Sesame Street.Image copyrightGetty ImagesImage caption
Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson presented HQ to
promote his new film, Rampage
The app was created by the co-founders of now-defunct video sharing app Vine, Colin Kroll and
Rus Yusupov."We've never stopped experimenting with video technology," Rus told Newsbeat."With HQ we wanted to blend and break out of these
moulds of traditional television."We thought if you could up the levels of production and broadcast directly to people's phones - and make
that content more interactive and more social - that we could actually turn this into something we could use daily."Image copyrightGetty
ImagesImage caption
HQ Trivia co-founders Rus Yusupov (left) and Colin Kroll (right)
Even though HQ
Trivia gives away money, it is free to play and does not run traditional ads.It has given away prizes in partnership with companies such as
Nike and Warner Bros though, which could be a potential revenue generator in future
HQ is funded by investors and by its parent company, Intermedia Labs.Earlier this year the hashtag #DeleteHQ surfaced on Twitter because
some players were not happy with one of the app's investors.Founders Fund, a firm founded by Peter Thiel that has also made investments to
the likes of Spotify and Facebook, was the reason
I'm addicted'To some, playing HQ can be a pretty big deal.Scott Menke says he has played nearly every single game since October 2017.He
with US HQ Trivia presenter Scott Rogowsky
"I honestly would say that I'm addicted, to a degree, to the game," Scott
says."It was evidenced by my total inability to quit
I said I would quit for three weeks and I lasted a day."For others, it's the smaller victories that count.First-time winners Tom and Claire
Tom told Newsbeat."We must have received a dozen messages from our friends seeing our name on the winners board."Claire added: "We're going
to Vegas in September so it's gone in the holiday bank account."'This won't be the be-all and end-all'The app is the "start of a genre",
according to tech vlogger Arun Maini (known on YouTube as Mrwhosetheboss).But he's not convinced it will still be the leader in years to
"It's got the potential to extend its lifetime a little bit
"Then again, I think there will be a lot of competing apps with a similar structure very soon."I think we'll see more games with a similar
format - but I don't think this will be the be-all and end-all."Follow Newsbeat on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter
Listen to Newsbeat live at 12:45 and 17:45 every weekday on BBC Radio 1 and 1Xtra - if you miss us you can listen back here.
