Countdown is the UK's most popular game show

Countdown is the most popular UK game show with 996,000 annual searches, new research commissioned by gaming experts Mahjong Challenge has revealed.

And The Chase comes in a relatively close second place, with 840,000 searches per year.

The study analysed the average number of yearly Google searches for more than 60 game shows on UK TV to reveal the top 10.

Words and numbers quiz challenge Countdown was the first program to be aired on Channel Four back in 1982, and 40 years later holds the top spot in UK Google searches.

ITV’s The Chase, presented by Bradley Walsh, is the second most popular game show with 840,000 searches per year – twice the average of the top ten game shows. The show sees contestants battle against a professional quizzer in an effort to win a cash prize, with individuals walking away with as much as £75,000.

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire takes third place, with 456,000 annual searches. The show, originally hosted by Chris Tarrant and later by Jeremy Clarkson, first aired in the UK in 1998 but has since aired in more than 120 countries in more than 80 languages, making it one of the most successful game shows on TV. As such, it is not surprising to see it in the top 10 most searched for UK game shows.

With 360,000 searches per year, Catchphrase sits in fourth position. The show first aired in 1986 and is currently presented by Steven Mulhern. Contestants try to guess the correct catchphrase with the help of a photo or animation.

The fifth most popular UK game show is ITV’s quiz program Tenable hosted by Warwick Davis, where contestants try to find the top ten answers in a given category. Next is the BBC’s Mastermind, which sees players answer challenging questions to collect the most points.

In seventh place is Blankety Blank, a comedy game show where contestants try to match the answers of a celebrity panel guessing the missing word in a statement. All three game shows have more than 300,000 searches per year.

Tipping Point comes in as the eighth most popular game show with 264,000 searches a year followed by the Crystal Maze and a Question of Sport which came in at joint ninth position having both garnered 252,000 Google searches per year.

A spokesperson for Mahjong Challenge commented on the study: “Game shows have been a staple in many homes across the UK since the 1950s and some of the most successful game shows on TV originated here in Britain. It will be interesting to see how the popularity changes over the coming years though, since 75% of Countdown viewers are in the 55 plus age range, whereas The Chase has a wider target audience.

“Game shows face more competition than ever before to capture the attention of younger audiences, since they are used to having access to endless entertainment at the touch of a button through services such as Netflix and Prime Video.”