Second screen

The way we use media in our everyday lives has undergone radical changes over the past few years. As its name suggests, the term, second screen (also called multi-screen or social TV), refers to the presence of an ad­di­tion­al screen users employ while watching tele­vi­sion. In addition to searching for in­for­ma­tion on their tablets, smart­phones, or laptops, many users also head to various social networks to discuss the program with others as it’s being broadcast.

This ad­di­tion­al screen is a potential boon for marketers, who are now faced with both new chal­lenges and op­por­tu­ni­ties arising from this new way of media con­sump­tion. Second screen isn’t only supported by standard web ap­pli­ca­tions; there are now also special apps, widgets, or online services available to viewers that are specially designed for parallel use. The idea behind this concept is to make TV programs more in­ter­ac­tive by con­nect­ing different marketing channels with one another.

The arrival of second screen coincides with new usage pattern de­vel­op­ments, which have largely been brought on through the increased pop­u­lar­i­ty of mobile devices. Whether you’re grocery shopping, commuting by rail or carpool, at the gym, or just loafing around on the coach: smart­phones and tablets are almost always within arm’s reach. Some take advantage of this con­ve­nience to escape the com­mer­cial break by logging online, while others hunt down facts about the program they’re currently watching. ‘Don’t I know that actor from some other show?’, ‘Quick, what’s the answer to that tricky quiz show question?!’, ‘And who’ll be rep­re­sent­ing the US in men’s beach vol­ley­ball this year?’ When it comes to dis­cussing media content, younger target audiences gravitate towards social networks, like Facebook and Twitter; often they label these topics with hashtags. Comments aren’t solely relegated to the turf of Facebook fan pages and the social media web presences of TV shows and actors; platforms designed specif­i­cal­ly for fans are also highly fre­quent­ed. TV series and films also often offer tailor-made apps.

Second screen studies have confirmed that the tele­vi­sion is no longer the center of attention it once was in many of the world’s living rooms. A report by con­sult­ing services company, Accenture, reveals that as of 2015, the attention of roughly 87% of consumers is occupied by more than one device at a time. Un­sur­pris­ing­ly, this trend is es­pe­cial­ly prevalent among younger audiences, with smart­phones being the preferred device among this de­mo­graph­ic worldwide. North American mil­len­ni­als, however, bucked this trend, with 59% of re­spon­dents re­port­ed­ly opting for their laptops instead. With such strong figures coming out of these studies, there’s no doubt that both tele­vi­sion ex­ec­u­tives as well as ad­ver­tis­ers have their eyes on these de­vel­op­ments. 

For some time now, TV stations have been offering custom down­load­able apps to their viewers. These provide ad­di­tion­al in­for­ma­tion on the regularly broad­cast­ed programs, and often offer users with op­por­tu­ni­ties for in­ter­ac­tion. An excellent example of a suc­cess­ful second screen app is ‘StorySych’ from AMC’s The Walking Dead. This program is an outlet for viewers to exchange in­for­ma­tion, answer show-related trivia, take surveys, and watch exclusive material.

The public broad­cast­ing channel, PBS has taken this in­ter­ac­tiv­i­ty to a new level with the in­tro­duc­tion of PBS Kids’ Super Vision in 2014. Simply put, this program allows parents to find out what their children have been watching on the PBS Kids website. Based on this accrued in­for­ma­tion, the app gives parents tips on ed­u­ca­tion­al ac­tiv­i­ties that might be of interest to the child. Parents can also set up timers that block the site during specific parts of the child’s day (read: dinner, homework, bedtime, etc.). And while the app isn’t specially made for tele­vi­sion per se, it does cover all of the most important second screen concepts mentioned above: the use of multiple devices, op­por­tu­ni­ties for user in­ter­ac­tion (in this case, parents with their children), all centered around regularly broadcast material.

These ap­proach­es showcase how tra­di­tion­al media outlets, like tele­vi­sion, can be connected with today’s most in­no­v­a­tive digital strate­gies.

A growing number of companies from the online sector, es­pe­cial­ly online retailers, are airing more and more tele­vi­sion ads. But aren’t these ad­ver­tise­ments going to waste if viewers are switching to their mobile devices during the com­mer­cial break? Well, they aren’t if the potential customers are also reached on their second screens. The keyword here is TV-digital ad syn­chro­niza­tion. Si­mul­ta­ne­ous­ly running ads on multiple devices allows companies to weave a seamless brand story. The ground­work for concept rests on the syn­chro­niza­tion of both ad­ver­tis­ing channels, which can be achieved with the help of various tech­nolo­gies. Most of the time, ACR (automatic content recog­ni­tion) is used. ACR gathers and analyzes tele­vi­sion com­mer­cials as soon as they’re broad­cast­ed. This real-time ac­qui­si­tion of TV ads is coupled with ad­ver­tis­ing and analytics platforms. Marketers can then activate digital ad campaigns that are in synch with tele­vi­sion ad­ver­tise­ments. For instance, tele­vi­sion ad­ver­tis­ing can be syn­chro­nized with SEA campaigns.

The ideal outcome here is that the sales message is boosted through its presence on ad­di­tion­al screens. This enables ad­ver­tis­ers to ‘catch’ viewers who may have otherwise been lost after switching to an alternate device. Rep­e­ti­tion fur­ther­more increases the effect and mem­o­ra­bil­i­ty of the ad. And by es­tab­lish­ing a bridge to the online ad­ver­tis­ing sector, the effects of televised messages can be measured. These effects can be tracked through the cor­re­spond­ing website’s KPIs (key per­for­mance in­di­ca­tors), and the customers’ behavior in turn becomes more trans­par­ent. Further tests on the interplay between TV campaigns and online marketing measures can be run and then later optimized.

When used in tandem with TV ad­ver­tise­ments, online ad­ver­tis­ing adds an extra kick to a company’s message. Users that are already searching for in­for­ma­tion or have been prompted by a tele­vi­sion com­mer­cial to search for products can be brought on board im­me­di­ate­ly. Second screen ad­ver­tis­ing keeps you closer to the customer and their needs. 

Of course, there’s always the risk that such measures end up back­fir­ing. The constant barrage of ad­ver­tise­ments that interrupt regular pro­gram­ming is already a major irritant for many viewers. And should this flood of ads also find its way into such users’ mobile internet searches, then it could be the case that this perceived overreach is met with frus­tra­tion. Users may either con­scious­ly or sub­con­scious­ly develop what’s known as ‘banner blindness’ and no longer pay attention to ads. As an ad­ver­tis­er, this means having to find the right balance, a task that will surely prove to be quite the challenge for the budding online marketing sector.