Social TV & Second Screen Information Repository

There are some good points in this article and it’s interesting to think of second screens as an 'emerging mobile vertical'. It is worth adding though that in addition to boredom, enforced viewing i.e. a partner watching a show you’re not interested in triggers second screen use. However, neither of these use cases is likely to result in true second screen usage i.e. activities integrally related to primary screen content. The existing second screen behaviour that really created this emerging space is the need for discovery: finding content to watch; finding information related to what is being watched; and finding out what others think about it.

This presents two big challenges for second screen app developers:

1) To make the discovery route second nature. Consumer will take the path with least resistance. This requires apps to be as intuitive as possible with the least number of hurdles that may distract from viewing.

2) Currently the easiest route to content discovery is the traditional Remote Control Device (RCD); for related information it is Google, Wikipedia or IMDb searches and for social validation it's the likes of Facebook and Twitter. Modifying ingrained user behaviours may be difficult.

Fragmentation is an issue. Chuck Parker, chair of the Second Screen Society currently has over 70 second screen apps on his tablet and is tracking over 130 more. Clearly this is an increasingly crowded market. In an in-depth industry report Chuck predicts that this will continue, marked by consolidation, failure and improved user experiences.

Increasing there are calls for some levels of standardisation, which can often be seen as signs of a technology maturing.

Healthy debate exists around the merits of show specific apps versus umbrella apps owned by networks or the likes of zeebox. There are advantages for show specific apps. However, the problem is that when the show ends the audience is lost - think NBC's Olympics app. Fox have now consolidated multiple shows into the Fox Now second screen offering.

Earlier this year, Hardie Tankersley at Fox said in an Engadget interview "We're investing just enough to be in the game and to try to learn something about it." However, this does not mean Second Screen is something that is added on as an afterthought. As Tankersley says, "For a produced show like Bones or New Girl, it starts with the origin of the script. When the first script comes in we start planning with the show what the second screen content is going to be, what the merchandise that we'll sell is going to be and it gets developed in that writers room."

Hopes of a transmedia heavy future for television where viewers can choose their own ending are unlikely to be realised. All that extra content to provide different paths costs money to produce. It doesn't really sit well with the lean-back behaviours associated with TV viewing so is an experience best left to games developers who have a proven audience and means of monetisation.

The huge year-on-year growth of multitasking identified by the survey should be alarming for the TV industry. It cannot be accounted for by the increasing penetration of tablet devices since the number of people simply choosing to read a book while the TV is on has more than double too! In fact, tablets are the only device where there is near parity between their use as a companion device for TV viewing and unrelated activities. The question raises a very serious question: is linear TV failing?

All too true. Nigel echoes the point highlighted earlier this week on the hidden biases in big data. Twitter seem to be riding the principle that if it can be measured it can be sold. However, although a lot of very big numbers are often quoted they are currently abstracted from meaning. We have yet to understand what 'good' numbers should actually even look like.

Research back in 1979 found that by continuing to monitor the audio output we develop the ability to divide our visual attention between television and other competing activities by the age of five.

Networks are finding that there will be a lot more "audience education" to  go before second screen apps attract mass adoption.

There has been a lot of speculation over the last year along the lines of "What if Facebook decide to actively move in on the social TV and second screen space?". This looks like clear signs of an experimental step in that direction, even if only to dip their toe in the water.

An interesting development though it is reliant on there being a sizeable enough audience of zeebox users to make the results of their participation worthy of broadcast.

A timely reminder that 'big data' does not tell the whole story. Social TV analytics, which may be seen as an application of big data, have become very useful in measuring and identifying what certain niche groups are watching and the moments that excite them. However, as the article suggests, the insights may not reflect the scale and sentiments of the whole audience, possibly not even the majority of the audience. This time last year there were three big independent names in social TV analytics: Bluefin Labs, Social Guide and Trendrr. Since then SocialGuide was snapped up by Nielsen and Bluefin Labs by Twitter with further news that Nielsen and Twitter are themselves collaborating. It may seem that there is a circling of the wagons in the 'wild west' of the new TV landcape. However, there is still more pioneering work to be done to truly unlock the gold in them data hills.