Smart Screen Exclusive

By Chris Tribbey

LAS VEGAS — For Ivan Perez-Armendariz, chief digital officer for ad and creative agency Crispin Porter + Bogusky, the numbers for the second screen speak for themselves.

“As brands we understand that if 81% of people are using their smartphones when watching television, it is the first screen,” he said, speaking during an International Consumer Electronics Show second screen Super Session panel. “I think the opportunity for invention comes with understanding the control and the synching between the two screens.”

There’s a huge opportunity for content, app and brand companies to make the second screen and that big TV in the living room work together — to the benefit of all — and it’s still only done well rarely, panelists said.

“We’re not reinventing the second screen experience, consumers are,” said Scott Schiller, EVP of digital advertising sales for NBC Universal. “It’s our job to take a total audience approach, to see where our content lives, whether it’s the program, the social piece, the content.”

He said NBC Universal looks directly at the interactions of consumers (125 million unique visitors across 50 digital properties) off the main screen to help make content better across the board. From advertisers linking rewards to second screen content to entire shows moving from online-only to the big screen, the opportunities are obvious.

“Nothing like the Olympics shows that people will watch even more television just because of digital,” said Schiller, speaking of NBC Universal’s offerings for the 2012 Olympics.

Luis Goicouria, SVP of PGA Tour, said the increase of ratings for his pro sport can be directly linked to digital engagement. The PGA’s second screen info offer fans unique content unavailable on the main screen, social interaction, video highlights, and even live video aside from what’s seen on the main TV.

“We show them live content they can’t see on TV,” he said. “We’ll put cameras all over around a specific group, and you can only watch it on a second screen. It increases engagement without a doubt. And it raises ratings.”

Home entertainment is one of the areas where second screen has received a huge boost, according to Ellen Goodridge, VP of global operations and product development for Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.

Companion apps have been a huge part of SPHE’s second screen drive, synching additional content from a Blu-ray Disc to a second screen, or standing alone. Another part is offering extra bonus features with digital, something Sony has already pioneered with Walmart’s Vudu content service.

“We’re in the business of distributing movies,” Goodridge said simply. “What’s really important to us is making that [digital] product better. What we’ve been focused on is finding the formula to bring multiple screens, to bring the second screen, into that equation.”

The studio released a hugely successful second screen app for The Smurfs in 2010. Instead of moving on, Sony upgraded and supported it all the way through the release of the sequel in 2013.

“We’ve been very happy [with the results],” she said.

Not every second screen endeavor will pan out, Perez-Armendariz said. It’s a constantly changing media landscape, Schiller added, where all the data in the world can’t predict what second screen experiences consumers will latch on.

But panelists were united in one belief: give consumers more content on a second screen, and chances are you’re improving their experience with it and the first screen.

“One of our key messages for 2014 is it’s all second screen,” said Guy Finley, executive director of the Media and Entertainment Services Alliance and the 2^nd Screen Society. “We think ‘second screen’ is a term the consumer will get friendly with, will learn to embrace, and takes us out of some nebulas terms: [over the top], multiscreen, interactive TV.”