Will the Second "Second Screen" Be a Game Changer? - Jacquie Corbelli-BrightLine

The initial tally is in we love our tablets Fifty five million of us now have one and spend an average 24 hours of our day on it checking email searching the web and wait for it watching TV And why not they39re powerful convenient and portable and if you have the latest iPad the video looks great Alas a quotsecond screenquot has officially entered the TV fray It39s not the first time Remember the laptop Back in the late 3990s we grew to love this versatile device too its portability and instantaneous access to the internet were a hot and increasingly popular combinationBy 2005 about a third of viewers were watching TV with a laptop within reach many experts bet it would be just a matter of time before we would abandon our big stationary box in the living room for the small portable one on our lap Yet the trend never prevailed In fact despite all reports that continue to suggest otherwise over 98 of our total TV viewing still happens on the big stationary box and quottwoscreenquot viewing and interactivity that39s what interacting with your TV show using your laptop was called never really caught onIt begs the question Can the tablet achieve what the laptop could not The jury is out but given the relatively rapid rate with which we are integrating these devices into our life combined with the many differences in our overall behavior since the tablet overtook the laptop the odds are definitely much higher this time aroundDamp233jamp224 vu All Over Again Reading about the birth of a second TV screen is a serious damp233jamp224 vu for the original pioneers of using a laptop to make interactivity on TV possibleamp8226 Football audiences across the country participated in a synchronous interactive experience viewing live stats realtime polling and an interactive game aligned with the actual broadcast viewers competed against fans nationwide amp8226 Emmy Awards viewers used their second screen to participate in real time polling and celebrity gossip synchronized with the live event amp8226 And MTV History Channel TBS and Game Show Network all aired their top shows with second screen interactivity Audiences of highly rated game shows on ABC and NBC played along with contestants competed in national leaderboards that appeared in the TV broadcastIt sounds like snippets of the day39s news or a small glimpse into the future but this all happened over a decade agoStudies conducted in this initial quotsecond screenquot period showed that offering viewers a way to engage with a show using their laptop helped big ad sponsors increase viewers39 quotrecallquot of their brands However the number of viewers that actually used their laptop to interact with the show at this time was less than 1 Audiences found it difficult to take advantage of these synchronous interactive experiences and the numbers of viewers that did so were not large enough to justify the cost of creating them Over time they evaporated and diedMany important considerations help explain why amp8226 The viewers watching TV with a laptop within reach were doing so in a world where only 43 of viewers had inhome access to the internet today that number is 72 amp8226 What39s more just 5 MM homes had a broadband connection in their home versus over 78 MM today according to Magna Global Forecast Data Most will remember the archaic struggle to quotdial inquot for internet access and how the juice often just didn39t seem worth the squeeze amp8226 Also at this time only 18 of viewers reported surfing the internet while watching TV that number has jumped to over half or 56 todayEnter the TabletAmong the many shifts in the portable device landscape and in consumer viewing behavior overall no change is more significant than the tablet It offers all the qualities of being a real game changer in the success of quotsecond screenquot TV and interactivity In addition to the adoption and usage stats above here39s what39s different this timeamp8226 Tablets now comprise 15 share of viewing fulllength TV episodes after traditional TV according to Viacom and laptops and desktops are no longer the main choice after traditional TV screens amp8226 62 of us use our tablet daily for an average of 24 hours per day amp8226 74 of tablet usage is done at home and 85 of use is for personal reasons versus business amp8226 79 of viewers are interested in interacting with their television programming and advertisingThese dramatic lifts in reach and shifts in behavior are tangible signs that the tablet is offering a compelling and enjoyable way to view and interact with our favorite programs But are the gradual changes in behavior and relative ease with which viewers can now watch and interact with TV programming enough The lasting impact of the tablet sensation is probable for a few reasonsamp8226 As a supplement to TV the device allows us to view video in all the places we can39t carry our 50 inch screen from the living room amp8226 As a search and discovery vehicle it doubles as a remote control on steroids amp8226 And its instant access to the internet and our social media networks means it39s a companion that allows us to both view and interact synchronously with our TV experiencesThere39s no evidence to suggest that tablets compete with the TV for our viewing time When given the choice whether we39re 5 or 95 we opt for a 40inch viewing screen to a 9inch one But its portable screen and the increasing quotTV Everywherequot options from both service providers and networks is expanding the number of places and times we can watch our favorite show Nearly half already use tablets while watching TV and 57 of television multitaskers are already using their tablet to search for content related to their showThis time around our behavior suggests that the tablet may be the third leg after internet and broadband penetration to making second screen viewing and interactivity a successBy Jacqueline Corbelli as seen on The Huffington Post on May 4 2012Jacqueline Corbelli is the coFounder Chairman and CEO of BrightLine an advertising and marketing firm which creates and implements interactive TV iTV advertising strategies that engage target consumers in a twoway dialogue with brands such as Unilever Glaxo SmithKline and Kellogg39s Accounting for 95 percent of all iTV activity BrightLine is recognized as the market leader in exploiting the latest digital technologies to create interactive brand experiences for television viewers Jacquie can be reached at jcorbellibrightlineitvcomCheck us out on Facebook at MediaBizBloggerscomFollow our Twitter updates MediaBizBloggerThe opinions and points of view expressed in this commentary are exclusively the views of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaBizBloggerscom management or associated bloggers MediaBizBloggers is an open thought leadership platform and readers may share their comments and opinions in response to all commentaries

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Will the Second "Second Screen" Be a Game Changer? - Jacquie Corbelli-BrightLine

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