The following executive summary provides an introduction into the contents of the Two-Screen Advertising Marketplace White Paper, a discussion of the traditional television advertising marketplace and the opportunities to bring greater value to that advertising through simulscreen engagement for viewers. Complete details are available in the chapters that follow.
Television Advertising And The Challenge At Hand
While all current trends indicate that television viewership and advertising expenditures are still vital components of the media marketplace, TV viewership does face a number of challenges, including fragmentation, technology-enabled time shifting, and the distraction of mobile multitasking.
To its advantage, TV is a proven medium. The high-definition picture and sound provided by television is superior to any medium in delivering emotional impact, enabling highly effective brand and awareness building.
However, developments in technology are impacting TV advertising effectiveness and efficiency is declining. Mobile multitasking results from dramatic proliferation of connected mobile devices and leads to increasingly distracted use of TV. Digital technology has also accelerated ad avoidance through time shifting and On Demand viewing, and has enabled a significant amount of digital channel fragmentation. All these developments work together to degrade the value of TV ads.
TV also suffers from a measurement challenge. Efforts to fully demonstrate cause and effect between TV advertising and brand awareness, product usage, and sales have proven elusive. Digital set-top box measurement promises to bring a digital “click by click” style metric to TV viewing measurement, but adoption by programmers and broadcasters has been slow and fragmented.
There are additional ways in which technology can be leveraged to improve the value of TV advertising. Digital and interactive media also have the potential to address these growing challenges, and simulscreen advertising is one such application of that digital technology.
An Emerging Solution To TV Advertising Effectiveness
Simulscreening takes advantage of the rapidly growing two-screen multitasking behavior among viewers. Consumer adoption of both mobile online content and mobile e-commerce provide an important opportunity for programmers and advertisers to bring real-time interactivity to content.
Past efforts at TV interactivity have been conceptually on target, but a variety of marketplace circumstances have limited effectiveness of these efforts. Now, with over half of all adults using smart mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets, and a majority of them keeping those devices with them while watching TV, a very different marketplace exists today, enabling a diverse set of opportunities to engage viewers in a two-way interaction. And there’s no sign that this adoption will slow any time soon.
Monetization Of The Emerging Second-Screen Market
While the standardization of the smart mobile platforms that have moved into the hands of consumers creates an efficient and effective platform for the reception of a simulscreen experience among viewers, the need still exists for a common standardized platform that allows content creators and advertisers to efficiently manage and deliver the experience. Further, the viewer must have sufficient incentive to participate regularly.
Similar to the way a digital advertising network coordinates targeted Internet advertising campaigns across multiple and diverse online publishers, the emerging second-screen advertising segment also needs an independent, agnostic “clearinghouse” entity that meets the requirements of all industry participants. A simulscreen clearinghouse entity such as this must receive support of all the participants, and therefore is unlikely to succeed should it come from an existing broadcaster, programmer, distributor, or ad agency.
To accomplish this, the industry will require an unaffiliated, standardized, open system which provides:
- Synchronization of the television and advertising content with a second screen device
- Incentives to engage on the second screen through awards
- Organized social activity around the engagement experience
- An accurate measurement and post-engagement tracking and reporting system
- An independent clearinghouse and platform provider will be critical in serving as the mediator in creating a second-screen advertising marketplace and enabling efficient, scalable, and effective results.
This white paper is designed to present the case for the timely value of the simulscreen experience, describe the need for the critical connective entity that can bring together diverse programmers, advertisers, and viewers in an efficient meaningful way, and establish the elements that are needed for the successful execution of these services on behalf of the many potential players in this space.
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White Paper published December 2012 by Frank N. Magid Associates, Inc.