SOCIAL MEDIA MULTICHANNEL PLANNING

Social Media ande Second Screen

Consumers' cross-channel mediaconsumption should inspire youto get social

JOAN MANCUSO & KAREN STUTH

•^ jmancuso@trig-us.com

~^' kstuth@trig-us.com

I f use of second-screen technologyas a mainstream marketing venue,especially as it relates to the

consumption of video content andsocial media, isn't part of your present

or planned marketing mix, perhaps itshould be.

Second-screen technology, or theconcurrent use of smartphones, tabletsand PCs during TV screen viewing.

often turns programming eventsinto a shared social experience. Thisallows for interaction with or extendedreaction to TV programming content,including advertising, and can extendthe value and impact of a 30-secondTV commercial well beyond its actualbroadcast time. In fact, a contributor toForbes.com predicted that CBS mighthave earned up to $12 million from adsplaced on the live-streamed simulcastof the 2013 Super Bowl on CBS.comalone—adding to the network's windfallgleaned from the regularly televisedgame's $3.75 million-a-pop TV ads.According to forfces'Alex Konrad, 2013Super Bowl social media engagementinvolved "5% more overall engagementthan last year, with the beer brand of theClydesdales getting the biggest boost: a145% increase to its social engagementin the week before and then a massivejump of 634% on game day."

According to our own tally—and aratio noted by many industry analysts-Twitter was mentioned in 26 of 52 SuperBowl commercials, while Facebook wasmentioned in only four and Google+was never mentioned. Twitter, withits 140-character limit and its simple,intuitive interface, might be morepreferred by handheld device users whoare generally typing on small keyboardsand might understandably prefer the"keep it short and sweet" principle thatTwitter embodies. But the popularity ofany social network depends on its targetaudience, which, when consideringsecond-screen technology, begs thequestion: Who, exactly, are these usersof social media through second-screendevices who are chalking up such bignumbers?

Last fall. The Research IntelligenceCroup (TRiC) conducted someindependent research, published in a

18 MARKETING INSIGHTSSPBING2013

o TWEET! Get timely insights from theAMA at Twitter.com/AHA_Harketing.

Study called "Pay TV Consumer 2.0; TheRise of the Next-Gen Family," whichaddressed many questions surroundingthe use of second-screen technology.We analyzed and presented the results

Only 15% were single-

person households,

dispelling any marketing

myths that seoond-soreen

users are primarily teens

or twentysomethings

with too muoh time and

too many electronic

devices on their hands.

of this study at the TVNext Conferencein Santa Clara, Calif., in October2012. The TRiG study collected datafrom more than 500 households thatdescribed themselves as users of second-screen technology, meaning that theyconsumed video on at least two screens.Interestingly, most households thatconsumed second-screen video contenthad three or more members, with 2.2adults and an average age of 43 years,and the average household income was$63,000. Sixty percent of respondenthouseholds had no children under theage of 18. Only 15% were single-personhouseholds, dispelling any marketingmyths that second-screen users areprimarily teens or twentysomethings

with too much time and too manyelectronic devices on their hands.

While more respondents ages 18 to 34were likely to use their smartphones asa second screen (83%), more adults ages

18 to 54 used tablets or' handhelds for the same

purpose (76% for 18- to34-year-olds and 81%for 35- to 54-year-olds).Forty-six percent areusing mobile apps forwatching or sharing videocontent and are mostoften using YouTube asa viewing platform (34%compared with 22% onTV networks). This isan important footnotefor marketers who arelooking for more cost-efficient ways to sharevideo content. Perhapsmost interesting of all isthat mobile apps for videocontent are most oftenbeing used in movingcars, or on trains or buses,

rather than in other venues such as theworkplace, restaurants or stores.

How are second-screen videoconsumers then bringing forward theirexperience of content to social media?Fifty-four percent reported that they hadtexted, tweeted, posted or commenteddaily about the content that they werewatching on TV, while 50% of thoseviewing content on a smartphone,49% of those viewing on a laptop orcomputer, and 47% of those viewing ona laptop or handheld did the same.

Overall, 48% of respondents havepaused a show to surf for information,but this is especially true of those ages18 to 34 and 35 to 54 with kids, whoare 63% and 60% more likely to pause a

show for the same reason, respectively.New second-screen companion apps,such as Zeebox or Dijit's NextGuide,if powered with automatic contentrecognition, can filter ads on the secondscreen that are tied to content andadvertising on the first screen.

Whether or not you welcome thislevel of advertising "engagement," it'scoming to a second screen near you.When you couple this with a socialcomponent on a companion app, theresults will multiply. While consumersconsistently articulated that theywelcomed opportunities to optimizetheir viewing experiences acrossplatforms, our research has found thatthe optimal viewing experience alsoextends to advertising, as well—if it's theright advertising.

In fact, second-screen consumers,accustomed to sharing their overallexperiences among their social mediacommunity, feel somewhat unsatisfiedwith the advertising content presented:48% overall and 63% of those 18 to34 would prefer that ads be morecustomized to their personal wants andneeds. This invokes the strong use ofsecond-screen apps and other tools thatsupport relationship marketing, andlikely explains why fewer than a quarterof all survey respondents believed thatmost ads were worth sharing on socialmedia channels.

Marketers take note: Social andsearch or discovery apps present agreat opportunity to marry a need withcross-screen ads and promotions, withopportunities to simultaneously generateinterest, stimulate use and open newrevenue streams, MI

•^ JOAN MANCUSO àilCl KAREN STUTH are

senior vice presidents at The Research intelligence

Group (TRiG).

MARKETING INSIGKTSSPRING 2013 19

Copyright of Marketing Research is the property of American Marketing Association and its content may not be

copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written

permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use.