Q1 2014 Quarterly Second Screen Update: Impacting the 1st Screen

2^nd Screen has continued to reveal evidence of progress in both monetization and engagement.  In addition to our focused research on monetization in Q1, we have been completed a 30-page research report on Sports on behalf of our society members to help them and their primary stakeholders (investors, customers, management) cut through the hype and the disillusionment and focus on clear examples of what is working. 

If you had the opportunity to attend 2^nd Screen Sunday at NAB, you would have seen the energy around the momentum in the space, starting with the very exciting Twitter Amplify keynote from Mike Park (@MEP) and driving through panels on monetization, UX, discovery, social and enhanced viewing with interesting perspectives shared from Comcast, Roku, Turner, Twitter, Nielsen, Razorfish, Videology, Brightroll, OV Guide, Xbox, the UFC, Razorfish, Kargo, Fox Sports 1, and Tivo.

Some highlights from the update covering 10 major market trends (members and subscribers have full access to all of our research):

1)     Hype and disillusionment. The ‘ying and yang’ of the still nascent space continues to frustrate investors, executives and even consumers.  While the press (particularly the tech press) continue to be attracted to negative sentiment, there continues to be growing evidence in both monetization and engagement with consumers to support the fundamental data that propels the market segment forward, despite a dearth of “killer app” use cases.  The continued investment in 2^nd Screen by nearly every major sporting league and media distributor sheds some light on the potential that is slowly being revealed to the market (see our recently published research paper “Sports and the 2^nd Screen: the winning combination”).  March Madness was perhaps the greatest example of this leading up to its conclusion this weekend in the Final Four.  While the return of the PGA Masters was nothing short of awesome though short-lived, we still have MLB’s “At Bat” app to keep ourselves fully occupied. 

2)     An ecosystem, not an app.  Chromecast released their SDK to the wider population, driving more 2^nd Screen experiences for both Discovery and Control to be adapted from Viewing Experience apps and Roku announced their streaming stick which will also leverage “casting” features for Netflix and YouTube upon initial release (give thanks to the DIAL protocol).  Microsoft continues to invest in its 2^nd Screen ecosystem under the SmartGlass brand, giving better feature capabilities not only to video content, but to games (Dead Rising 3)—and have released an SDK of their own (have you checked out BattleField 4: Commander?).  Finally, Amazon released their new Fire TV yesterday—with a “Second Screen” companion option in the settings menu and casting for Netflix out of the box.  Game on.

8)     Social TV.  Twitter is making a big push into the 2^nd Screen space with both Twitter Video Cards and Twitter Amplify.  Mike Park’s keynote at 2^nd Screen Sunday at NAB last weekend highlights the opportunity for both engaging the consumer and bringing them back to the first screen and for engaging them in the brands whose advertising space enable the video ecosystem as we know it.  John Dixon from Comcast spoke on a panel highlighting the opportunity they envision through the SeeiT feature, whereby consumers can manage their first screen viewing schedule through Twitter.  No surprise, Facebook recently announced their intention of ramping up its capability in the space beyond autoplay videos in your news feeds and enabling your hash-tagged posts to live beyond your circle of friends.  3 million retweets during the Oscars can’t be a bad thing for consumer engagement, and had they highlighted that Samsung phone even just a little bit (water marked brand image in the photo), the advertising potential could have easily been realized 100x over (think Twitter Amplify here).  Watch this part of the 2^nd Screen space closely.

More on Ad Supported Video (AVOD) growth, monetization, the mobile web, ad blockers, consolidation and discovery, as well as an update on monetization and the UX of sporting apps in our report.

@ChuckParkerTech

@S32Day

Quarterly Second Screen Market Trend Update

2^nd Screen had a tumultuous run up to CES 2014 with the press continuing to be split between hype and disillusion.  While we normally would have written and presented this update at CES, we decided to focus on releasing our research on monetization on behalf of our society members to help them and their primary stakeholders (investors, customers, management) cut through the hype and the disillusionment and focus on clear examples of what is working.  Ironically, the additional insight gained in the first few weeks of January has been invaluable with regards to both consolidation (Yahoo closing IntoNow) and M&A (Viggle buying Dijit, TiVo buying Digitalsmiths).  NATPE also did the production industry a favor by publishing some great research on enhanced viewing experiences as seen through consumers’ eyes as well as those of the production executives making decisions about where to invest in content development (in-depth blog).  Finally, the holiday season has continued to accelerate the proliferation of devices into the market place, driving continued growth in engagement and monetization opportunities for the 2^nd Screen companion and viewing experience ecosystem.

Monetizing the 2nd Screen--business models that work

Second screen, social media and companion applications are all high on the agenda of executives in the media and technology industries. As a reflection of all major TV and technology conferences in 2013, CES, NAB, IBC, and MIP had several sessions dedicated to second screen. But second screen, while proven as a reality of consumer behavior, is not yet widely seen as a revenue driver. Indeed the reality of the second screen phenomenon is accepted, as is proven by the continuous flow of statistics showing that viewers use another screen in front of their TV (one of the latest being Nielsen saying that 75% of smartphone and tablet users are engaging with second-screen content more than once a month as they watch TV[1]). Another proof of the generalization of second screen is the multiplication of companion screen applications: over the course of 2013 they have become widespread in new geographies including the Middle East, Eastern Europe and Latin America, where they had little presence only 12 months before. Comparing the space with 2012, it is clear that no TV players can ignore it. Even more striking, the players behind some of the most successful apps are large and well established: Peel now has  40m+ downloads, mostly through a global partnership with Samsung; Apple bought Matcha in August 2012; zeebox grew their partnerships with Sky, Comcast (NBCU) and Foxtel, while DirecTV acquired a share of i.TV (which bought Getglue at the end of 2013); Viggle has a longstanding partnership with DirecTV; Comcast has launched “SEE iT” with Twitter[2] and Xbox SmartGlass app was downloaded more than 17m times.  Despite this popularity and the presence of the largest players, few industry executives dare to speak openly about monetization of second screen applications and only a small percentage of 3^rd party app providers have made their progress public. There may be good reason for the industry stalwarts to keep their progress private with commercial competition so tough, but the sceptics of course believe that is because no one has actually experienced much monetization success.  So while many in the industry are wondering where the money is in second screen, next to nobody is ready to “show [you] the money”.

Looking for Evidence of Monetization and Engagement after the Hype

When I look at the 2^nd Screen industry trends today, I can’t help but think back to what we were focused on only 12 months ago as we prepared to come together at CES in Las Vegas.  We spent a lot of time talking about Social TV, the consolidation of the industry, ACR, and whether or not consumers were actually using their 2^nd Screen devices to engage with there video content—or just to play Angry Birds.

The 2nd Screen: Transforming video consumption - Q3 Update

Third Quarter, 2013: Impacting the 1^st Screen

The first 9 months of 2013 have been explosive for 2^nd Screen, though confidence by the trade press and investors has wavered somewhat during the summer.  Apps have continued to improve, new apps have kept coming, monetization evidence is in plain site through several engagement models, and the convergence of 2^nd Screen companion experiences and 2^nd Screen viewing experiences has continued to gain momentum.  The rise of the 2^nd Screen Ecosystem continues to be a blessing and curse for nearly all of the players in the video ecosystem, especially the content distributors and the brand advertisers.

In this brief summary, I am going to make references to our published research (“2^nd Screen: Transforming Video Consumption”, a 252-page report published during our 2^nd Screen Summit @ CES on January 7^th, and the Q1 and Q2 Updates of the same published on April 7^th and June 27^th ), as well as to blogs and conferences we have hosted and attended during the last 9 months.  However, the information should still be relatively coherent regardless of your attentiveness to those events. I have also included the introductory Executive Summary below for your reading clarity.

2nd Screen By the Numbers - Q3 2013 - an infographic

Renewed Investment in the 2nd Screen Industry

In the last few weeks there has been notable activity in the 2^nd Screen space.  Watchwith raised $5 million and ConnecTV raised $1.4 million.  In the Discovery space, Matcha closed its operations while Squrl and Vidora launched consumer-oriented services.  Yahoo bought Qwiki (for creating user generated 2^nd Screen content) and Samsung acquired Boxee (presumably to attack the digital video end of the living room).  And then over the weekend, billionaire Carlos Slim announced he was investing $40 million into Shazam to accelerate their pivot from a music service to a second screen TV advertising service.  So while we have predicting that the space would consolidate (with some evidence that consolidation is taking place), there is enough market interest in the growth potential of the space to attract new investment and new services.

First Quarter, 2013: Are we on track? An update to the definitive research "The 2nd Screen: Transforming video consumption"

The first 3 months of 2013 has been explosive for 2^nd Screen.  Apps have improved, new apps have continued to launch, clear evidence of growth in the revenue associated with the market can be seen, and the convergence of 2^nd Screen companion experiences and 2^nd Screen viewing experiences has continued.

In this brief summary, I am going to make references to our published research (“2^nd Screen: Transforming Video Consumption”, a 252-page report published during our 2^nd Screen Summit @ CES on January 7^th), as well as to blogs and conferences we have hosted and attended during the last 3 months.  However, the information should be relatively coherent if you have been paying attention to the space even a little bit.  If you are attending today’s 2^nd Screen Sunday @ NAB, you will have the opportunity to buy discounted copies of the Executive Summary, Market Starter Pack, or the Full Report as required.  

1. Market Trends.  Perhaps the best way to gauge where the market is headed to look back at the predictions we made in the report (page 77 and in our blog on New Year’s Eve) and to see if we are on track:
1. The "digital land grab" continues, marked by consolidation,
   
   failure, and improved user experiences.  Well Viggle didn’t successfully complete the acquisition of GetGlue, but the market itself has continued to consolidate.  Dijit did acquire Miso, giving the consumer branded NextGuide app which excels in the “To Discover” segment a strong head start on developing its features “To Enhance” the consumers’ viewing experience after they have found a show.  Additionally, zeebox continues to develop its consumer feature set out as have other app notables (Yap.TV launched v.4.0, Turner launched a new March Madness app that was even better than last year, and the Super Bowl, the Grammys and the Academy awards all got their own bespoke app experiences for second screen).
2. Social feeds will be a feature, not the experience.  There has been a decent amount of debate in the blogosphere and at conferences, led by industry thought leaders Alan Wolk and Jesse Redniss.  Twitter is perhaps the best and most used tool for Social TV, but Social is only one component of the second screen experience, being aptly rounded out by the features making up the “To Control”, “To Discover” and “To Enhance” segments.  I am sure this debate will continue as Social TV continues to enjoy continued growth and press.
3. "Discovery" will become a household word.  Well, we’re making progress, but we’re not there yet.  Expect DirecTV, Dish, and Time Warner Cable all to make announcements around their platform discovery in the coming months and for start-ups like BuddyTV, Dijit (NextGuide), Yap.TV and Matcha to continue their progress as well.  While Digitalsmiths continues to make progress in the Pay TV and CE space, larger industry service providers have been making their push (Kit Digital, Gracenote) as well.
4. Tablet and smartphone usage reports will become about activities related to the TV.  Nielsen launched a social measurement service (after buying SocialGuide) and Twitter bought BlueFin.  More and more the statistics are pointing to behaviors while watching TV (shopping, looking for a show to watch, voting, etc).  Expect this trend to continue.  It is no longer a question of whether or not people use a second screen but rather what they are doing with them.
5. Studios and networks save money, apps grow in 2 directions.  We saw announcements around CES where CBS Connect and Fox Now are consolidating multiple shows into their consumer facing app.  More importantly, we predicted that these branded content apps would create alliances with 3^rd party apps like NextGuide and ConnecTV to expand their reach by syndicating their official metadata and content to promote a quality branded experience—and today Hardie Tankersly from Fox will be on stage to discuss exactly that.  
6. Gamification will begin to lose favor with the press and consumers, only to begin to add value again towards the end of 2013.  Perhaps it is a bit too early to weigh in on this trend.
7. Amazon and eBay will engage in a battle for the Second Screener's M-Commerce.  While Amazon is making progress with its “X-ray” feature for Kindle, there has not yet been a push from them on commerce and “Watch with eBay” is still massively under marketed.
8. Cloud-based digital lockers will finally be taken seriously by consumers and the rest of the ecosystem.  There has not yet been evidence of discovery platforms scanning or presenting results from the UltraViolet locker service, but there are now 11m accounts on record and Saffron Digital announced an end-to-end service in partnership with Akami for UltraViolet retailers.  Progress.
9. Device makers will jump into second screen with both feet.  Samsung certainly is “all in” on the concept, launching several second screen efforts to drive real connectivity amongst their smart phones, tablets and Smart TVs.  Expect Nokia, HTC, and Motorola to come to the party soon.
10. ACR and the battle of the digital video ecosystems.  Prior to CES, there had already been market rumors of Netflix working their streaming ecosystem towards a second screen platform.  Now that DIAL (owned by Netflix) is out in the open and supported by  Google, there is a real possibility that an open API system will decrease the cost and complexity for 3^rd party apps to connect to devices in the living room including Smart TVs and set top boxes.  Additionally, companies like Flingo are creating white label ACR ecosystems for smart TVs and other digital video devices, allowing the ecosystem owners to go to market quickly with a synchronized content capability.  Watch this space closely.
2. Market sizing.  We took a bold stance in our research report (page 55) on revenue in the 2^nd Screen space, claiming that 2012 had already seen $490m of attributable revenue from this market segment and the we expected the market to reach $5.9B by 2017.  When I stood on stage at CES to discuss this, I saw a lot of disbelief in the crowd.  We walked the room through the breakdown of mobile and online video advertising  ($6B growing to $17B) and m-commerce ($76B growing to $158B) and out logic for the incredibly small sliver of those markets that will be captured by 2^nd Screen experiences in the living room (forgetting the opportunities in the convergence place between companion and viewing experience).  Right out of the gate, Super Bowl 47 had press for CBS Interactive claiming to have sold $10-12m in advertising for the 2^nd Screen along.  Then the stats for living room shopping while watching TV started to pour in from various analytic agencies (very high percentages of smartphone and tablet owners are shopping while watching TV).  Throw in the content syndication model for apps sponsored by the NBA and MLB, and you quickly get a sense that this market is on a strong upward trend.
   
3. Consumer app experience.  To round out the Q1 view, we should look at what applications have significantly improved their feature set.  This is important because no matter what the revenue or business model is for a particular app experience or ecosystem, if the consumer isn’t engaged and using the app on a regular basis, there is no opportunity to attract revenue.

1. Events.  The Super Bowl (Keynoted today by Jason Kint), the Grammys and the Academy Awards all got their own bespoke app from their network sponsors.  March Madness upgraded their amazing 2012 experience to deliver an even more eye-popping 2013 app.  I would expect the Masters to double down on their strong 2012 showing and deliver an event better experience next week.
2. 3^rd Party Apps.  zeebox has continued to develop new feature sets for its app. 
   
   Yap.tv launched its 4.0 version and a Microsoft’s Xbox SmartGlass continued to expand its presence by launching an exclusive experience for The Hobbit.
3. Network apps.  Fox Now, CBS Connect, USA Anywhere and Bravo Now continue to improve their app experiences, with Fox and NBC distributing their metadata to 3^rd party apps to improve their branded content consumer experience across multiple apps.  HBO Go continues to invest in its converged 2^nd Screen companion and viewing experience app as Game of Thrones hits its 3^rd season.
4. Sports apps.  The NBA continues its great 2^nd Screen season, cleaning up on the Social side of the experience set and the MLB is just underway with a new set of features for MLB At Bat (presented on stage today by Joe Inzerillo).
5. Finally, converged experiences are continuing to
   
   be a trend, helping consumers manage the transition from the living room scenario where a companion experience is desirable and a mobile scenario where a viewing experience is what is required.  March Madness and HBO Go leverage the authenticated Pay TV network for their video experience and I am expecting the Masters to do the same next week.  MLB and the NBA give you the opportunity to have a “lite” stats-only experience for free and a paid subscription for viewing out of market games.  With significant advertising and subscription revenue at stake here (and the converged experience being highly desirable by consumers), expect this significant industry trend to continue despite its increased development costs.  Expect sports apps and premium branded subscription TV to lead the way forward here.

So a relatively short but very action-packed summary for nearly 100 days of market activity.

We are looking forward to continuing the conversation today at 2^nd Screen Sunday @ NAB, through a few webinars over the coming weeks, at our 2^nd Screen Summits in NYC on June and IBC in September, and, of course, through our blog and Twitter activity (@ChuckParkerTech, @S32Day).

Look out for the next major update on this comprehensive report on June 27^th in NYC.

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.

Netflix's DIAL and the Second Screen Ecosystem Battle

One things is certain about the second screen industry--it is rapidly developing.  As we have discussed at conferences, over cocktails, through dinners, and in this blog (recently including 2013 trends, the coming ecosystem war, and our comprehensive industry report), one of the biggest challenges to deploying a second screen app is to create consumer utility.  That means the consumer needs to find more reasons to pickup that second screen with your app than with other devices (eg Harmony One remote) or app options.  While there are a wide range of apps chasing Social and Stimulating feature sets for  companion second screen experiences, there are an equal number of players trying to solve Discovery and Simple control of the first screen.

The real challenge with this approach is getting the content to launch on the first screen.  If you are the Pay TV operator, controlling the first screen is "easy".  If you are the game console or CE device manufacturer, it's also "easy"--you own the protocols.  But if you are a third party app, trying to create consumer utility (and hence value) by allowing him/her to search across multiple video services and launch their chosen content to that service on the first screen--hard.  Today, most of them are becoming adept at launching the video content onto the second screen itself, deep linking into the Hulu, Netflix, YouTube, or Amazon Instant Video app directly, but only a few third parties have mastered multiple devices for the first screen (eg BuddyTV)--and most of them only work with Live TV.  Imagine the complexity in the living room: you have 5 different devices by now that have Netflix or Hulu installed, so even if you could talk to anyone of them, how do you launch the right device and get the main screen to switch to that device?

Enter Netflix and DIAL.

Second Screen and the 2013 CES

We kicked off the 2013 International CES show last week on Monday with a 5-hour, program-packed 2nd Screen Summit--working hard to get the "right" people on stage and in the audience.

But was CES the "2nd Screen CES" we predicted it would be in mid-December?

2nd Screen Society announces definitive Second Screen market research study

"The 2nd Screen: Transforming Video Consumption" written and produced by The Intersection LAS VEGAS   — At the 2nd Screen Summit at International CES today, 2nd Screen Society Chairman Chuck Parker introduced data and details from his new research study: "The 2nd Screen: Transforming Video Consumption."  The 250-page document details the current state and five-year projections for this emerging marketplace, which the researchers estimate as a $490 million market today and expect to reach $5.9 billion by 2017.

Created by The Intersection, a research company owned by Parker and TV technology executive Renaud Fuchs, and published by the 2^nd Screen Society, the report presents both the global market size and segmentation of the hundreds of consumer facing apps in the market place, the build-up of the market sizing, a deep-dive on the technology driving this space, the latest trends and case studies on the leading apps in the market. Additionally, the report will cover how consumers are using their 2nd screens as 1st screens both in and out of the living room, as TV Everywhere strategies come into full effect in the consumer market place. "With 35 million tablets sold during the holiday season in 2012 and an estimated 40% of all television viewers now enhancing the experience with a 2nd screen, this is clearly the trend to watch for 2013," Parker explains.  "What can you expect to see in 2nd screen developments in 2013 and who are the current leaders?  How will the giants of today’s video industry respond to this challenge?  We answer these questions and more in this report."

The in-depth study covers everything you need to know about 2nd screen: 

• The technology status and future developments: how ACR and the “system level” 2^nd screen platform from Xbox SmartGlass will have significant impact on the marketplace
• A segmentation of the market and a scoring of hundreds of companion apps: that are used to control, discover, enhance, share and multi-task.
• An analysis of the players in the ecosystem: why studios and TV shows focus on enhancement and pay TV operators focus on control.
• A full-blown usage analysis, business models and market sizing with detailed data to 2017.
• A detailed review of the Top 50 apps:  what works and what doesn’t and identifying key feature sets
• A detailed look at trends and future state of the 2^nd screen market
• An 18-month detailed forecast:  describing trends we believe will have a short-term impact on this emerging marketplace for applications and 2^nd-screen technologies.
• A deep review of second screen as a viewing device

For more information about the research study visit: www.2ndscreensociety.com/research.

The 2^nd Screen Society represents over 40 technology leaders who are committed to collectively advancing the creation, production and adoption of content applications, devices and distribution systems within the new 2^nd Screen Engagement Ecosystem.  The Society is managed on behalf of its members by MESA, the Media & Entertainment Services Alliance.

To find out more about the Report and the Society contact Chuck Parker at: Chuck@MESAlliance.org

The Future of ACR: A Major Weapon in the Digital Video Ecosystem Arms Race

We’ve been talking about ACR (automatic content recognition) in blogs and at conferences for quite some time now (most recently, the 10th prediction for second screen trends in 2013).  For many players in the ecosystem (including consumers), the ability to trigger an event on the second screen based on what is happening on the first screen is somewhat of a holy grail of enabling technology capabilities.  But as we discussed at NAB in April and at IBC in September, this has so far remained elusive in terms of real scale for consumers reached because of the challenges inherent in each of the various approaches.

10 Predictions for the Second Screen Industry in 2013

It seems that technology triggers are often accompanied by the hype of future potential benefits, while the real value is elusive and slower to appear than industry journalists, analysts, or pundits would like, but I am going to lay out 10 scenarios that will develop in this still nascent industry during 2013.

A Review of The Dark Knight Rises experience on Xbox SmartGlass

Last week, the Dark Knight Rises finally entered the Blu-ray/DVD and digital download window for consumers.  While I am warming-up to the concept of "owning" a digital title on Xbox (portability issues still remain), I was very interested in digging into a premium experience on their new SmartGlass second screen platform.  It delivered premium and then some, offering what I think is currently the best UX to date for a movie companion second screen experience.

Revisiting Microsoft's Xbox SmartGlass Platform

Last week I had the opportunity to moderate a second screen panel and attend several other panels and presentations at the Variety Entertainment App Summit in LA.  While I greatly enjoyed the panel on second screen monetization with YuMe, Magic Ruby, Cinram/1K and MTV, I thought the most eye-opening session was the presentation of Microsoft Xbox SmartGlass by Mark Turner.  While I had seen Ron Pessner present something similar back at a 2nd Screen Society in NY last June and I had been playing with the platform at home for the past 2 weeks (and even wrote about it last week), somehow the epiphany of just how big this could be for the entire second screen ecosystem had escaped me.  Let me talk you through the key points they get me excited and explain why I spent this weekend re-exploring the platform at home.

My Review of Microsoft Xbox SmartGlass

Microsoft has continued to develop the Xbox platform into an entertainment convergence powerhouse that has migrated from the family teenager's bedroom or basement into the living room.  They made a significant leap with Kinnect in the gaming world in early 2010, and then earlier this year launched a video and menu navigation system that leverages voice and Kinnect and even leverages their search engine Bing.

Then this spring they announced Microsoft Xbox Smartglass with a ton of fanfare, lead by Balmer himself and in LA of all places.  While they have continued to follow-up on that with Windows 8 phones and tablets, a formidable device and ecosystem approach in its own right, their greatest weapon for winning the living room battle may be their second screen development platform SmartGlass.

The Coming Battle for Second Screen

In the last few weeks, a key number of market events have taken place that give an indication of what lies ahead for Second Screen.


- Game Consoles. While all of us know have known for some time that Microsoft's announcement in the spring about SmartGlass was an important sign to their commitment to the space, most of us (including me) were surprised they delivered a revision-1 level experience relatively quickly and have a serious vision about what this change in consumer behavior can mean to their platform in terms of changing hard core gamer experience AND changing video entertaiment on the platform. But what I think is passing over the heads of most of the industry is what impact the Wii U will have on gaming and the second screen space.

A quick recap of the The Imminent Power of 2nd Screen Consumer Engagement @ Advertising Week

Rick Liebling of Y&R moderated a great panel of second screen industry experts yesterday in the NASDAQ Market Site in Times Square, largely focused on the impact second screen potentially has on the advertising space.

His able-bodied panel was represented by David Pugh of Magic Ruby, Joe Inzerillo of MLB Advanced Media, Jordan Berkowitz of Ogilvy & Mather, Sue Kaufman of Group M and Brody O'Harran of Microsoft Xbox--a great cross section of the burgeoning industry.

The Second Screen Hype Cycle

I was reading an article recently from an industry “evangelist” describing the second screen phenomena as very “nascent technology”, that the odds of you discovering that something is on television that you didn’t pre-record or already know about is low, that the majority of consumers will continue to want to channel surf to watch the lion’s share of their content and that the “remote is not going anywhere anytime soon”.

Not a middle of the road stance.

I thought long and hard about that article.  Part of the problem being described is a classic market adoption challenge known as “crossing the chasm”.  Fair enough--people’s behaviors take time to change as we are all creatures of habit.  But as I read and re-read the article, I started looking at the individual feature comments and thought in terms of the feature sets we have used to describe second screen (Simple, Social, Seamless, Stimulating, Discovery).

And then I re-read the most recent Gartner report called the “Hype Cycle for Broadcast and Entertainment - 2012.”