The Significance of Second Screen Media Consumption 

It’s a simple fact of modern life that the ever-present interruption of our smartphones is all but unavoidable. They ruin dates, family meals and classrooms alike now that we are always connected and have such a real time interactive relationship with various online platforms including of course social media. One major area of smartphone online consumption actually happens while we are engaged in other media, the most common of which is television.

65% of Americans asked about dual usage by Statistika admitted to regularly using their mobile phones for Internet access and web browsing while actively engaged in television viewing.

Other data shows that over 70% of all adults engage in dual screening. Mobile phones are actually the top device for dual screening with television, surprisingly tablets only account for 25% which is even lower than laptops at 29%.

Quite simply we have become accustomed to being a multi-screen society and we are comfortable consuming that amount of media at once. For businesses and marketers though this does present an opportunity.

Dual screening is a positive tool for marketers to leverage

While on the surface dual screening may appear to be a negative for television in that we are clearly less engaged with television than we used to be before the arrival of high-speed mobile internet, there are some positives too.

One of the top activities for mobile internet users during television consumption is search. A huge 85% of the Internet use taking on a smartphone while watching TV is search based. What’s more, this searching is over 80% based on finding out more information relating to the show being viewed. This is hugely encouraging for anyone involved in TV sponsorship and advertising, particularly when you consider that direct searches related to product placement or advertising during viewing accounts for 65%.

Social media and general communication with friends are both very high on the mobile usage charts as well, but again there is a silver lining. Anyone who is a regular Twitter user will be able to pay testament to what is probably the social platform’s saving grace, its ability to be genuinely real time reactive. Breaking news stories and emerging information spread faster on Twitter than any other social media network and television, even simple entertainment is a fantastic example of that.

Tapping into dual screening

For clever advertisers and marketers, the dual screen affect is nothing new and they will already be making moves to maximise this potential. These can be as simple as increasing max CPCs or weighted budget during hours of live TV associated with your product or perhaps the appearances of an endorsed celebrity. Sports personalities are a very obvious example.

It’s well known for example that Nike ups football related product placement via programmatic display buying and increases its search presence when top players including Cristiano Ronaldo are playing in major matches with live TV coverage. This was also coupled with ongoing social media advertising presence contextually targeted to conversations including their top players post-match. This is particularly true when they have had significant results or particularly stellar performances.

While the effectiveness of TV advertising alone may remain in question, there is additional opportunity for advertisers who can master dual screening and the opportunities this new type of media consumption presents.