When Game Show Network launched in 1994, it gave old episodes of The Dating Game and The Gong Show an afterlife. But two decades later, VP of Design Gary Adler realized that he had a problem. Because when people heard the network’s name, they only thought of “musty old game shows” — even though it was producing new and original content.

In 2012, the network launched The American Bible Challenge hosted by Jeff Foxworthy, but as Adler recalled Wednesday at PromaxBDA: The Conference 2016, “the carpet didn’t match the curtains. We had an excellent show on but it was an island onto itself. We had no branding to support it. We had no navigation system. And we didn’t have any shows that could come before or after it that would help support the program.”

It was time for a big change.

Decades after its conception, Game Show Network changed its name to GSN and became a 20-year-old startup.

“Play had obviously becomes a big word for us because what do people do with games? They play with them,” explained SVP and Creative Director Bob Peterson. “But we also liked to play with our brand. People knew Game Show Network. They didn’t know GSN. We wanted to show up in unexpected places with unexpected work.”

Potential new viewers began seeing ads for GSN on small screens while watching The View to large screens via jumbotrons.

GSN focused on creating exciting new content with exciting hosts. Sardonic comedian Ben Gleib, for example, hosts Idiotest and scintillating Rebecca Romijn hosts the body painting gameshow Skin Wars.

“We didn’t want our show hosts to be just a good suit and a haircut,” said Adler. “We wanted them to feel human.”

Or, in the case or Romijn, super human.

GSN even expanded to horror-based gameshow content in 2015 with the show Hellevator, a genre-bending series from the creators of Paranormal Activity and Insidious.

“This isn’t your grandma’s gameshow,” Adler said, recalling having to move some of the ads to primetime because it was scaring the network’s older fanbase.

The bold move paid off by lowering the median age of primetime viewers to 59 and making 2015 its highest rated year on record.

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