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.

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.

Robert Tercek: Inventing the Future of Second Screen

Last Tuesday, a little over 250 industry professionals gathered for a 2nd Screen Summit in Beverly Hills.  No one in the audience had any idea that they were about to see the most thought provoking keynote presentation on the future of TV and Second Screen.

Robert Tercek has been "Inventing the Future" of media and entertainment throughout his 25-year career.  He is passionate about inspiring audiences to seize their own destiny by thinking creatively and taking decisive action. His business strategies are informed by his personal experience as a pioneering executive for MTV, Sony and OWN, and as an entrepreneur in disruptive startup ventures.

An infographic data roundup for Second Screen

There are quite a few skeptics out there about Second Screen and SocialTV.  Some of them say this is a fad.  Others say, "So what?"  Here's the "so what."

• ·   110,000 Social comments on average per episode for X-Factor, the “most buzzed about” series in 2011
• ·         23% of the people viewing the ad on the second screen engaged with it
• ·         1.8 billion “likes” on Facebook for TV shows
• ·         25% of 18-24 year-olds are interested in having more social features integrated into their TV viewing experience
• ·         $200 billion - Size of the global TV advertising market
• ·         1% increase in TV ratings is the result of a 14% increase in social buzz
• ·         5,567,954 Social comments on the MTV Music Video Awards
• ·         86% of mobile internet users are using smart phones or tablets while watching TV -- 92% of 13-24 year-olds do the same
• ·         5,641,263 Social comments on Prince William and Catherine’s wedding
• ·         70% of sports viewers would like to interact while watching a sporting event
• ·         38% say that browsing the web enhances their TV watching experience
• ·         300% increase in sales for show related fan items after the deployment of a sync’d second screen app

Sources: Park Associates, CMO.com, appmarket.tv, Bluefin, lostremote.com, Nielsen, aboutecho.com, gplus.com, guardian.co.uk