In our recent post we write about the changing TV experience. Not only the viewers tend to multiscreen more but our second screen activities are more connected to what we see on the TV, including the commercial break.
However it’s still too early for the broadcasters to celebrate, since the most popular second screen activities are disctraction. Still smartphones, tablets are the rivals in the fight for the viewers attention, still a sizable portion is related to what they’re watching on TV, a study by IAB shows.
When you take a closer look at all the activities performed by multiscreeners there is one conclusion: they do a lot of different things. Yes, multitasking is the key to understanding the modern mind. For smartphone users there are 22 different activities performed by more than 20 percent of the respondents and ten of them are performed by more than 40 percent of TV viewers.
According to the IAB research 71 percent of viewers browse the internet on their mobile devices during the show, 58 percent read or write social media posts unrelated to the show, 56 percent are playing casual games, 52 percent read and write unrelated emails, and 51 percent are catching up on news.
Messaging friends about the show or movie is the most popular TV-related activity with 54 percent of responses, 49 percent search for information about the show, movie or actor, and 42 percent read or write social media posts.
The Potential of Second Screen Apps
The TV show related activities are the ones that can be easily integrated in a dedicated broadcaster’s app. They can help increasing viewer’s engagement and rising the show’s viewership by promoting it on social media.
It is the last category, the TV commercial related, that opens the revenue opportunities. As much as 37 percent of the viewers search for reviews of a product or service shown in a commercial, 34 percent post on social media about a commercial, 31 percent go to the site shown in a commercial, and 29 percent share info or a video of a TV commercial with a friend.
From our own experience, especially with our 4screens apps build for “You Can Dance”“ and “Kuba Wojewodzki” talk show, we can tell how the user engagement grows during the commercial break. It simply goes through the roof. It’s a great opportunity for the broadcasters and advertisers. The key is to start using second screen apps now, get the first cases and start measuring the effect.
#broadcasters #IAB #research #second screen #TV