Background. The paper focuses on manipulating the mass consciousness of the audience. Traditionally, this issue has been considered as an attempt to present the advertising of a TV product as information, but within the digital age, there is a desire to present promotion of TV content as a game. However, the “non-gaming” goals of the institutions that stand behind video games and games in alternate reality may be hidden from the players and serve commercial goals.

Objective. The study focuses on identifying and describing the advantages and disadvantages of using gamification in the TV promo-discourse. The author examines examples of using games in alternative reality and also multiplayer online games in real time in order to attract the attention of films and TV series viewers, analyzes the causes of success and failure of similar projects in related fields, and also in science and business.

Design. The study is valuable for interdisciplinary approach. Analyzing the use of gamification techniques in the TV promo-discourse the author raises topical issues of media psychology, perception psychology, philosophy of video games, ethics, communicative stylistics and media stylistics.

The paper highlights philological methods designed according to the tasks of the research: communicative discursive analysis, synchronic descriptive and synchronic comparative methods. The description of the provisions and forms of persuasive communication as applied to TV promotions includes elements of logical meaning-specific analysis (i.e. argumentative analysis), and also intentional, ethical and psychological analysis. This approach helps to give an adequate description of gamification effects in TV promodiscourse.

Results. The author comes to the conclusion that the ability of game mechanics to motivate mass recepients of the TV promo discourse to watch television programs is enormous, but the viewers of the TV channels need to be critical of gamification projects: they have to understand the purposes they are framed to, and take part in projects whose non-gamer goals are merely civil without implying exploitation of the gamer. Framed to the ethical norms gamification in the TV promotion can be both an effective tool for promoting TV content, and also a way to change the social order for the better.

Conclusion.Theoretical conclusions of the study of the mass consciousness manipulation through using gamification in TV promotions can be widely used in teaching medialinguistics, speech culture, TV, philosophy of video games, humanitarian researche of video game, etc. The results of this study seem to be useful to media professionals.