Cash at Your Door Knocks Around the World

Answer the door, answer one single question correctly and a cash prize is merely a few more clever guesses away in the all3media international quiz-show format Cash at Your Door, whichgives willing contestants a chance to win big from the comfort of their living rooms. From general knowledge and trivia to “Home Questions,” the quiz grows in difficulty as family members team up to field the questions and avoid a game-over second wrong answer, their only aid an “Ask Your Neighbor” lifeline. As the stakes rise, invested viewers play along from their own homes.

“Cash at Your Door immediately stood out to us as a fun, simple to understand play-along quiz that can be produced economically and in high volume,” says Lucy Heaven, production consultant at all3media international, which also distributes Cash Cab. “Viewers enjoy playing along at home, as households answer trivia questions for cash. As viewers we love getting to see inside other people’s homes!”

In February 2010, Matar Productions’ Cash at Your Door launched on Channel 10 in Israel, earning a 39-percent share of the audience. By October of that year, the critically acclaimed series’ first adapted version launched in Kazakhstan. Further expanding its reach since, the quiz show has now been produced in ten total territories, counting among them Turkey, the Czech Republic, Belgium, Serbia and Italy, where the local version launched earlier this year on Rai 2. In the U.S., audiences have become familiarized with the format via The Ellen DeGeneres Show, which features Cash at Your Door as a recurring segment.

While much of what made the quiz show a hit during its initial run in Israel nine years ago has traveled along with it from territory to territory, some practical changes have been made to accommodate certain locales. “In the Czech version there are two hosts rather than one, and in Belgium the host travels from one household to another by bicycle rather than Segway as in the original Israeli version,” explains Heaven.

And in Mongolia, where the Hulegu Pictures-produced Cash at Your Door most recently bowed? Like the others, it’s by and large what the format has always been—but as in Belgium, the host has a different mode of transportation. “The producers did explain to us that their host would need to travel by car rather than Segway due to the temperatures outside being -20C!”

Mongolia’s Edutainment TV tells all3media international that the local version premiered to positive results, rising to become one of the top five programs in the country. Encouraged by the success, the channel planned to hold a special episode to celebrate Mongolia’s Naadam Festival national holiday.

Heaven attributes Cash at Your Door’s ability to land in markets the world over to two important factors: its pathos and its bottom-line value. “The show has a real warmth to it as we catch a glimpse of ordinary families’ relationships, homes and neighborhoods,” says Heaven, adding, “It’s also very cost-effective, easy to produce in high volume and performs well in a variety of slots as either a daily or weekly.”

With those inarguable positives going for it and its successful track record, Heaven would like to see Cash at Your Door knock just about anywhere. And it won’t be long before she’ll see the format enter Spain and a couple of African countries, where all3media international is already in advanced discussions. “We’d love to see the format find a new home in as many diverse parts of the world as possible.”