This article investigates the relationship between the television industry and participatory audiences through a rhetoric of empowerment that frames audience engagement in particular ways. I focus on how contests based on the creation of user-generated content are utilized in the industry–audience relationship; here my primary case studies are the use of user-generated video contests for Late Night with Jimmy Fallon and The Office. I explore how these shows try to produce and harness the activity of participatory audiences. Further, I argue that an emphasis on understanding the regimes of value for participants is key to understanding these experiments in digital audience retention.