These head-spinning Wordle statistics show why the New York Times is turning the game into an NBC TV show

Your family group chat’s favorite daily word game is about to get an adaptation for the screen.

In a series of press releases published this morning, The New York Times and NBC announced a new joint venture: a game show series based on Wordle, The Times’ fan-favorite word-guessing game. The show will be produced by Universal Television Alternative Studio in partnership with Electric Hot Dog (Jimmy Fallon’s production company) and The Times.

Wordle’s popularity is part of a broader, successful Games operation at The Times that’s turned users’ interactions with the publication into a daily ritual. And the forthcoming TV show is just the latest evidence of how much of a cultural phenomenon the Games category has become.

How NYT Games have become part of the cultural zeitgeist

Wordle, a simple word game that gives users six chances to guess a five-letter word of the day, was invented in 2021 by software developer Josh Wardle. Within just a few months of its release, it already had 300,000 users. A year later, The Times swept in to acquire the game for a low-seven-figure sum.

The return-on-investment for this acquisition has proven to be massive. According to Caitlin Roper, executive editorial director for film and tv at The Times, tens of millions of players engage with Wordle weekly.

“Tens of millions of people play New York Times Games every single day,” Roper says. “Over half of weekly users are playing more than one puzzle every day and over a quarter are playing four or more. Our puzzles were played 11.2 billion times in 2025. The Mini Crossword was played 1.4 billion times, 1.6 billion successful Connections were made, and Strands was played 1.5 billion times.”

This is the first instance of The Times associating itself with a prime-time entertainment program on a major broadcaster—and it shows how users’ ritual use of games like Wordle has become a central pillar of The Times’ business over the past several years.

Access to Games is a key way that The Times drives new digital subscriptions, which are one of the core backbones of its business. Per the company’s first quarter 2026 results, digital-only subscription revenues—which encompass subscriptions to the company’s news product, as well as to The Athletic, Audio, Cooking, Wirecutter, and, finally, Games—grew 16.1% year-over-year.

Now, The Times is parlaying its most zeitgeisty game’s success into a show for modern viewers.

“Wordle is already a social and shared experience,” Roper says. “People don’t just play it, they talk about it, compare results and solve together. That gave us a strong foundation to think about how it might translate into a game show, where that social experience can play out on screen.”

“If you’re like me, you probably wake up every morning thinking about Wordle and savoring those precious moments of discovery, surprise and accomplishment,” Jonathan Knight, general manager for The Times‘ Games, told The Times after the acquisition. “The game has done what so few games have done—it has captured our collective imagination and brought us all a little closer together.”

What we know so far about the Wordle game show

Word-guessing game shows are part of a tried-and-true genre that’s been around for decades. Some of the most successful examples include Wheel of Fortune, Family Feud, Password, and Lingo. Typically, these shows see contestants duking it over over identifying the right words or phrases for a specific prize.

Given its straightforward format and cult following, Wordle is a natural fit for a similar adaptation. According to an NBC press release, the show—which has been in the works for “several years”—will challenge players “to solve five-letter word puzzles in a supersized battle of smarts, speed, and fun.” Players will be organized into teams and go head-to-head in the “Wordle arena,” playing for what NBC calls an “incredible cash prize.” 

While little has been revealed about the actual look of the game, The Times reports that the series is expected to replicate the Wordle typeface and color scheme. An official release date for the show has not yet been announced.

“This is really about audience and experience,” Roper says. “Wordle has a large, engaged community, and television offers a way to bring that experience to more people in a shared setting.”

Casting for the Wordle show is currently open online, with applications closing on May 29. The show will be filmed this summer and hosted by Today Show show co-anchor Savannah Guthrie. Initial production, which was scheduled to take place this March, was paused amid the search for Guthrie’s mother Nancy, who has been missing since February. 

In an interview with The Times, Guthrie said of the show’s announcement: “It’s strange to say that I’m going to do a game show when your heart is broken. Nothing about that has changed, and it’s not easy, but I’m determined to put one foot in front of the other. And this is a joyous thing.”

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