The Price Is Right is a television game show franchise originally produced by Mark Goodson and Bill Todman, and created by Bob Stewart, and is currently produced and owned by FremantleMedia. The franchise centers on television game shows, but also includes merchandise such as video games, printed media and board games. The franchise began in 1956 as a television game show hosted by Bill Cullen and was revamped in 1972. This version was originally hosted by Bob Barker. Since 2007, Drew Carey hosts the program.

In the show, contestants compete to win cash and prizes by guessing the pricing of merchandise. The program has been critically successful and remains a stalwart in the television ratings. It also managed to break away from the quiz show format that has been used in other game shows. Since the current version of The Price is Right premiered, it has also been adapted in several international formats around the world, most notably in the United Kingdom, Australia and Mexico.

The original version of The Price Is Right was first transmitted on the NBC, and later ABC, television networks in the United States from 1956 to 1965. Hosted by Bill Cullen, it involved four contestants bidding on expensive products, doing so in the manner of auctions except that Cullen did not act out the role of auctioneer (contestants tried to bid closest to the product's actual retail price without going over that price). After a set round of bids, the contestant whose bid was closest to the correct value of the prize – and had not gone over that value – won it. At the end of each edition, the contestant who had won the most (by dollar value) was declared the winner and became the returning champion, entitled to play again in the next edition. This version of The Price Is Right ended in 1965.

Robert William "Bob" Barker (born December 12, 1923) is a former American television game show host. He is best known for hosting CBS's The Price Is Right from 1972 to 2007, making it the longest-running daytime game show in North American television history, and for hosting Truth or Consequences from 1956 to 1975.

Born in Washington to modest circumstances, Barker enlisted in the United States Navy on the outbreak of World War II. Barker worked part-time in radio while he attended college. In 1950, Barker moved to California in order to pursue a career in broadcasting. He was given his own radio show, The Bob Barker Show, which ran for the next six years out of Burbank. Barker began his game show career in 1956, hosting Truth or Consequences. From there, he hosted various game shows as well as the Miss Universe pageants. Eventually, he hosted The Price Is Right, beginning in 1972. When his wife Dorothy Jo died, Barker became an advocate for animal rights. Since then, Barker has been a long-time supporter of animal rights, and of animal-rights activism, including groups such as the United Activists for Animal Rights and the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. In 2007, Barker retired from hosting The Price Is Right after celebrating his 50-year career on television.