Preparing for Second Screen at IBC

Second Screen doesn't appear to have taken much of a summer break since our 2nd Screen Society conference in NY on June 26th.  Discovery just recently announced a new Social TV app, Yahoo and Twitter announced support for the Olympics, and two official Apps have been launched for the Olympics (London 2012: Join In and London 2012: Results). While I am disappointed that I didn't see a synchronized app come out of the official Olympic camp, I would expect 3rd party apps to be all over the games when they kick-off tomorrow on the 27th of July (you see can these headline articles here). If you are in the UK, I would highly recommend trying Zeebox for the experience. If you are based in the US, TVplus runs a great synchronized experience as well (see our app review from a few weeks ago).

Something else new and interesting happened this week in Europe: Grolsch decided to sponsor a movie experience app for Alliance Films (built by Mobovivo). I can't help but think of the monetization panel we had back in NY where a debate about how and when "real" monetization might reveal itself, but this might be as classic as it gets in terms of brand sponsorship: a major brand from the Netherlands in Europe sponsoring a 2nd Screen app built around perhaps one of the hottest movie franchise creators this summer (Alliance distributes the Hunger Games).



And thinking about the classic Dutch beer with a flip top made me immediately think about IBC. This year the show is about a week earlier than normal, starting officially on Thursday, September 6th, in Amsterdam. We have managed to secure a location for a late afternoon of discussions and cocktails on Saturday the 8th at the Okura Hotel. I am looking forward to key notes, panels and passionate discussions about how 2nd screen is developing in Europe, expecting some of our European-based members to help deliver a great program (Civolution, RedBee, Kit Digital) and expecting some great announcements around the show, which is generally the heralding event of the fall for the TV Broadcast world.

So kick back and enjoy the Olympics over the next few weeks and keep thinking about the Grolsch sponsored app from Mobovivo--then let's share one and talk about what's next for 2nd Screen on the 8th in Amsterdam at IBC.

@ChuckPakerTech