Do game shows account for inflation when distributing cash prizes?

Jeopardy has gone up over time, but not recently

The values of the clues increased over time, with those in the Double Jeopardy! round always being double the range of the Jeopardy! round. On the original Jeopardy! series, clue values in the first round ranged from $10 to $50 in the Jeopardy! round and $20 to $100 in Double Jeopardy! On The All-New Jeopardy!, they ranged from $25 to $125 and $50 to $250. The 1984 series' first round originally ranged from $100 to $500 in Jeopardy! and $200 to $1,000 in Double Jeopardy! These ranges were increased to $200–$1,000 and $400–$2,000, respectively, on November 26, 2001.

If you were a contestant on What's My Line, you were competing for $50 max grand prize. A $20 prize was common and well received.

Family Fued with Dawson was $5k, then it went to $10k, and now with Steve Harvey it's $20k.

The Pyramid show was $10k Pyramid. That's literally what it was called in 1973. Then it was the 20k pyramid in the late 1970's, then $25k pyramid, then $100k pyramid.

So yes shows adjust for inflation over time. But as a game show, as long as it's popular and people are playing, why voluntarily give out more money.

Shhh, be quiet, the prize is sleeping.

Super funny typo 🤣

It's been a while, but jeopardy has gone up over the years from a max double jeopardy clue value of 100, to $250, then $1000, and now $2000, though it's been stuck there for over twenty years. Of course, inflation was pretty low for most of that time, and the main point is not to index to inflation, but to find the minimum needed to attract clever, telegenic contestants and keep the audience engaged.

Why would they do that? Game shows are not trying to give winners a certain level of buying power. They are trying to make money by sell advertising slots and produce a show for as little as possible.