Tuesday, February 26, 2013

The Oscars and Second Screen

I am not sure how you felt about the Oscars, but while the show was entertaining, I felt like there was a seriously missed opportunity between how the brands were advertising and how social media and second screen was being used.

Sunday, February 24, 2013

Need a #SecondScreen companion for the Oscars and the Red Carpet preshow?

This is going to be a great test of "special purpose" vs. "multi-function" apps and I would love to get feedback / comments on my blog (below) or on Twitter (@ChuckParkerTech, @S32Day, hashtag #2ndScreenOscars).

My wife is hosting a Red Carpet and Oscars party and I plan to run a few iPads and a Samsung 10.1 Tab 2 on a mixture of different apps to see what the reactions are.

On special purpose, here is what I will review:
- The official Oscars app. Last year it sported 6 camera feeds for the red carpet preshow, but also sported some technical glitches. High expectations this year.
- E! Live from the Red Carpet. Tend to a do a great job at all of these events.
- TOK for Oscars. I love their Football and Baseball app (think of 2nd Screen and Skype voice combined) and am very curious to check out their Oscars version.
- The Oscars Guide and Awards Hero (both have voting and tracking features).
- The Race to the Oscars (from the Hollywood Reporter).

For the multi-function apps, I will be spending time with:
- zeebox. They did a great job on the Grammys and Golden Globes--I am expecting more here.
- ConnecTV. While I am still getting used to the new UI, they have promised a special Oscars experience.
- Shazam. Continue to develop their features and functionality in this space.
- Viggle. Gamification / trivia -- earn rewards while you and millions of others watch.
- IMDB. Also promising a special experience for the Oscars.
- BoxFish. I am interested to see what they do with their live speech to text capabilities.
- GetGlue and IntoNow. Hugh "check-in" numbers--curious to see what they do beyond that.
- Yap.tv. Tend to have a decent social and stimulating experience for most shows.

Share your experiences with me on the blog, on Twitter, or live on Tuesday at the Beverly Hilton (1.30-6pm) at our 2nd Annual 2nd Screen Summit in LA (www.2ndScreenSummit.com)

@ChuckParkerTech

Friday, February 22, 2013

Can second screen drive renewed growth in home entertainment?


On Tuesday, we will gather with industry peers to learn the latest developments and engage with thought leaders in a discussion around 2nd screen’s impact on how we interact with our home entertainment consumer.  To begin the dialogue we’d like to emphasize the opportunity Second Screen presents to you and your business to help revitalize the home entertainment industry by giving the consumers an experience that is worth buying (vs. renting or subscription).  We are also suggesting that we unite to create a visual marker that tells the consumer both the movie or TV title and the app will deliver an enhanced companion experience that promotes the proliferation of a 2nd screen ecosystem that is available to the consumer when they buy an UltraViolet enabled title digitally or on Blu-ray Disc.  The premium experience we collectively create is a reason to buy, helping to promote UltraViolet in the process and ensuring the success of a feature rich ecosystem with the distribution power of today's physical and digital retailers.

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

The 2013 Grammys and Second Screen

Last year, the Grammys were the most social single event of 2012 with over 12 million social impressions.  CBS just released their stats confirming that the 55th Grammys were the most viewed Grammy show since 1993, with over 28 million viewers on CBS.

But for second screen, I cannot honestly say we made a huge leap forward in the last 12 months.  Somethings are better, some worse, and some continue to be interesting to watch as consumer engagements around the experiences drive the market forward.

The interesting:  This was the 2nd opportunity we have had recently to really test "special purpose" apps vs. 3rd party "multi-function" apps.  CBS deployed an updated "special purpose" app for the Grammy's a few weeks ago (with updates coming just a few days before the event itself).  zeebox, Viggle, and E! Live from the Red Carpet lead the "multi-function" effort for this type of event.  As a consumer myself, I can't say the special purpose app was significantly better than the 3rd party apps--in fact, because I am now used to the UI of zeebox, Viggle, and E! Live from the Red Carpet, I actually found them easier to use.

The negative:

  • It was still time delayed by 3 hours for the west coast.  While some apps (Viggle for example) tried to keep out spoilers, most second screen apps didn't--and even my CNN app kept telling me who the winners were before I turned it on.
  • The broadcasting network (CBS) had a very busy UI/UX with too many spoilers (including photos of the winners) that should have been better than third party apps like zeebox or E! Live from the Red Carpet.  They seemed to have attempted to make the web and tablet experience the same (perhaps to save money), but watered down both in the process.
  • Most of the focus was around the "social" aspect of second screen, with little attention being paid to the "stimulating" side of the experience (unlike the Golden Globes and People's Choice awards from a few weeks ago, which were great at both).


The positive improvements:

  • For consumers looking for an enhanced viewing experience, zeebox did a great job during the event, though it could not stifle the time delay of tweets.  They were not in the US last year. 
  • Viggle did a decent job of managing the time shift and offering consumers a quiz-based experiences throughout the show that was decently compelling--this didn't exist a year ago.
  • The E! Live from the Red Carpet app gave great pre-show experiences, mostly improved from 2012's efforts in many ways.
  • The program itself paid more attention in on-screen graphics and commentation to Social TV (mostly Twitter) and Second Screen, which I think is great for the industry in total.
  • There were decent showings from Shazam and GetGlue (neither of which did much last year), though some good app experiences from last year seemed to have waned in their efforts.
What are your thoughts about "special purpose" vs. "multi-function" apps?
Feel free to comment here on this blog or on LinkedIn in our 2nd Screen Society forum.  Or just reach out to us on Twitter @S32Day or @ChuckParkerTech using the hashtag #SecondScreen.

Want to continue this discussion live?   Come see us on February 26th at the Beverly Hilton for our 2nd Annual 2nd Screen Summit in LA 1.30-6pm, with cocktails to follow.

Thursday, February 7, 2013

5 great reasons to join the 2nd Screen Summit in Beverly Hills on Feb 26th


I was catching up with an old friend today in LA, discussing the latest with second screen, and how the market is growing so quickly.  He made a curious comment, and then asked a pointed question,  "Second screen seems to be only really valuable for ad supported television.  As a home entertainment executive, why should I come to a conference about second screen?"

While I can think of a very long list of reasons as to why I believe second screen matters to both live and on demand content, I thought I would answer this important question with five points:

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Second Screen market growth evidence: 53m Tablets ship, Twitter wins the Super Bowl and buys BlueFin

So Twitter "won the Super Bowl", bought BlueFin and last Friday we heard that 53m tablets shipped worldwide in Q4 of 2012.  So what?

When a bird breaks through its shell to be born, the world shouts its a market "revolution", but the tiny bird itself has been making progress steadily for a long while--more of a "rapid evolution" with one very publicly acknowledged milestone.

Friday, February 1, 2013

Dijit Acquires Miso, the second screen consolidation continues

Dijit, the company lead by CEO Jeremy Toeman which has developed second screen apps NextGuide and Dijit Remote TV, has announced the acquisition of GoMiso, Inc, developer of the Miso second screen app and its signature SideShows.