Second screen

The way we use media in our everyday lives has undergone radical changes over the past few years. Nowadays, when searching for something online many users opt for their smart­phones or tablets, and not the desktop. 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 programme with others during the broadcast.

This ad­di­tion­al screen has the potential to be a blessing for marketers, who are now faced with both new chal­lenges and new op­por­tun­it­ies arising from this emerging method 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 pro­grammes more in­ter­act­ive by in­ter­con­nect­ing different marketing channels.

The arrival of second screen coincides with new usage pattern de­vel­op­ments, which have largely been brought on by the increased pop­ular­ity of mobile devices. Whether you’re grocery shopping, commuting by rail or carpool, at the gym, or just lounging around on the coach: smart­phones and tablets are almost always within arm’s reach. Some make the most of this con­veni­ence and escape the com­mer­cial break by logging online, while others search for facts about the programme 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 audiences tend to gravitate towards social networks, like Facebook and Twitter; often labelling these topics with hashtags. Comments aren’t just limited to Facebook fan pages and the social media accounts of TV shows and actors. Platforms designed spe­cific­ally for fans are also highly fre­quen­ted and TV series and films also often offer tailor-made apps.

Second screen studies have confirmed that the tele­vi­sion is no longer the centre of attention  in many  living rooms around the world. 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. However north American mil­len­ni­als 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 programme is an outlet for viewers to exchange in­form­a­tion, answer show-related trivia, take surveys, and watch exclusive material. Of the major UK tele­vi­sion broad­casters, ITV have been the ones to embrace second screen tech­no­logy the most. A couple of years ago they launched their ini­ti­at­ive ‘Ad sync’. This gave companies and brands the op­por­tun­ity to take over the ITV app during ad breaks of the most popular shows; X Factor, Britain’s Got Talent, etc. When an ad break began, smart phone users were en­cour­aged to play along with the app-based game, which would engage them with certain products or services. Tresemmě and Rimmel were two of the companies who made use of this service, aiming at the pre­dom­in­antly younger, female view­er­ship of shows like X Factor and Britain’s Got Talent. The idea behind this was that people would be engaging with the app anyway during the show and therefore when a brand or company took over the app for 5 mins of the ad break, they would continue to engage and play along. 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 this won’t be the case  if the potential customers are also reached on their second screens. The keyword here is TV-digital ad syn­chron­isa­tion. Sim­ul­tan­eously running ads on multiple devices allows companies to weave a seamless brand story. The ground­work for concept rests on the syn­chron­isa­tion 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 analyses 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 sync with tele­vi­sion ad­vert­ise­ments and for instance, tele­vi­sion ad­vert­ising can be syn­chron­ised 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’ behaviour in turn becomes more trans­par­ent. Further tests on the interplay between TV campaigns and online marketing measures can be run and then later optimised.

When used in alongside 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 no doubt prove to be quite the challenge for the budding online marketing sector.