How to Deepen Viewer Engagement With Second Screen Experiences

While creating second-screen experiences is no longer the hot topic it was only a few years ago, there's no denying that viewers still watch TV with a smartphone or tablet in their hands. How are they using those devices and how can publishers use the second screen to enhance people's viewing? To answer that, author Chuck Hudson gave a presentation at the recent Streaming Media West conference.

"The stats are 68 to 70 percent of the time while they're watching a TV they're using a tablet or smartphone," Hudson said. "However, we need to drill down a little bit further, especially in the video streaming field and the programming field to understand what they're really using those devices for, because it could just be web browsing­—checking the weather, sending emails to their mother, whatever it may be."

Using recent research from Nielsen, Hudson showed that second-screen browsing is often related to the show currently being watched.

"We want to actually see what the important actions are in that demographic. Here's a report from Nielsen that came out with exactly that. They asked people, 'What are you actually using your smartphone or tablet for while you're watching TV?'" Hudson said. "The top one there: looked up program-related information. That could be anything from cast member information, plots, additional episodes, anything in that space. Where are the eyeballs then? Are they actually on the smart device or are they actually on the TV?"

For more on how people use second-screen devices and what publishers can do to harness that energy, watch the full video below and download Hudson's presentation.

HOW TO: Changing Viewer Engagement With Second Screen Experiences

This presentation will explore how the second screen is driving an enhanced experience with interactive content, first screen control, social experiences, and the creation of an overall ecosystem. Learn about stats on second screen usage, types of engagement, how to drive new content discovery, streaming to second screens, casting to the first screen, and the use of companion applications.

Chuck Hudson, Co-Author - HTML5 Developer's Cookbook

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