New second screen research points to huge opportunity for marketers
December 17th, 2012 by Tim Greenhalgh
New research from eConsultancy reinforces the trend and huge momentum towards second screen culture.
I use two screens most of the time, either laptop and mobile or mobile and TV, with the laptop at hand when needed for some data sources. Far from a distraction, the additional screens help with background, context, further information and knowledge.
That’s why it was a joy to read eConsultancy’s article, published this morning and written by Clair O’Neill from mobile business apps company mubaloo.
It is excellent, with a detailed exposition of the current cultural position and views on what’s next.
Clair advises, for example that Shazam, the sound recognition app, is one service helping brands to extend the reach of their TV adverts through mobile and therefore harness the power of second screening.
She writes: “As well as listening to music, the app now also listens to the audio from advertisements and uses it to launch relevant content on the user’s mobile device when it recognises the sound.
“This gives marketers the opportunity to send Shazam users straight to a relevant landing page at a time when they are already engaged and ready to interact further.â€
There’s so much more than this nugget but I’ll leave that decision to you.
Clair’s info builds on a recent Sky TV research project, led by Luke Bradley-Jones, Brand Director, TV Products.
Sky published the survey commissioned from YouGov with an infographic (link below) at the end of September. It shows that that three out of four people watch TV accompanied by another screen. It’s also now second nature for a third of people (34%) to use laptops, tablets and smartphones to talk about live TV while watching.
The research also shows  that, after eating, going online is the next most popular activity while watching TV, with 60% of consumers found to be using email, 65% surfing the web and 47% using social networking sites.
Like Clair and Luke, I believe that marketers should grab with both hands the opportunity to deepen engagement with consumers through the second and third screens. To me, it seems like a win-win, if campaigns are designed and deployed in the right way.
This must mean taking great care not to spam second screeners but individuate the engagement messages, making these useful relevant and worthwhile. Done the right way, these engagement tactics can bind the consumer closer but also improve conversion rates.
Click on the infographic image below to see full size version:
Tags: econsultancy, mubaloo, second screen, Shazam, Sky TV