the connected world supplement special report Supplement sponsored by
Second screen applications running on mobile devices are increasingly popular. New applications are launched every month and the focus is to provide an enhanced TV experience by providing additional information about what you're watching on the big screen. The benefits with this approach is that you can create a stand-alone experience on the second screen and benefit from the more mature app technologies on mobile devices. The drawback is, of course, that everyone in the TV industry would like consumers to remain focused on the first screen, where all the money is being generated. Michael Lantz, CEO at Accedo Broadband, explores how second screen applications can be used to drive first screen revenues.
Integrated experience of first & second screen applications
T
V has, over the past 50 years, grown to be one of the most important pieces of electronics we have in our home. Most of us don’t remember a time when there
were no TVs in the living room, and from a very young age we have all been groomed to enjoy the TV experience. In general this model has proven extremely resilient and the global market has, over the past 60 years, shown consistent growth to a size of more than 200 billion dollars, one of the largest and most profitable industries that the 20th century produced. The market is well functioning with continued market growth globally, even though recession and innovation are providing some pressure in some markets.
The emergence of ‘the second screen’
We all know about the success of the smartphone over the past five years. From being a niche directed towards business users, Apple and Google have over the past years transformed the smartphone market to a truly consumer-centric device. Of course, consumers spend a large part of their spare time in front of the TV, and smart phone usage while watching TV was
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Michael Lantz, CEO at Accedo Broadband.
very natural for consumers. The first usage was communication between consumers, initially using text and email and then gradually moving over to social networking. Once the market was large enough, broadcasters saw the opportunity of providing additional content to consumers with apps related to their channels or programme formats. Finally, over the last year we have seen a number of service-style second screen applications, which provide full programme information for all channels combined with social media and third party information services.
The TV industry wants evolution and not revolution
As briefly discussed, the TV industry is a profitable and healthy industry.
Everyone’s current revenues are connected to the consumption of content on the first screen. Of course, mobile applications are driving content consumption, and usage and revenue growth are very high. Unfortunately, the growth in new revenues will not compensate for any significant fall in existing revenues, and large parts of the TV industry are worried of the implied competition for consumer attention and the corresponding fall in subscription and advertising revenues. Most companies see a rapid innovation and a change in consumer behaviour where more content consumption will take place outside of the first screen. However, they would like this change to be gradual over a period of 5-10 years so new revenue streams can offset older, more mature and profitable revenue streams.
Two of the most rapidly evolving consumer industries ever
The innovation over the past four years in the mobile industry has been truly astounding. The emergence of powerful smartphones, the introduction of tablets, the application ecosystem and the first really high bandwidth mobile networks are each innovations that would make all other
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