MONTREAL – A Canada Media Fund white paper concludes that second-screen activity (which has turned Apple into a $625 billion company) is “no marginal phenomenon.”
This “news” comes from the first of three white papers on the second screen for TV phenomenon. Entitled: The Second Screen and Television – Overview and Growth Perspectives, the document is a joint publication of The Evolumedia Group and the CMF, with the financial support of SODEC. Two additional white papers on the topic will be published in the coming months.
“The second-screen market is strategically placed for industrial, short-term development. The maturity of app development for mobile and connected TV combined with the update of realtime content recognition (audio content recognition, check-in, TVSync, etc.) and the marked interest of investors and advertisers for social media already is conducive to the increase in strategic partnerships,” it concludes.
It adds that for a “second-screen strategy to reach as many PDC [Personal Connected Device] owners as possible, producers and broadcasters do not have any other choice but to invest substantial amounts of money on the spread of compatible second-screen apps on all the smartphone and digital tablet operating systems (iOS, Android, BlackBerry, Windows7).”
It notes that monetizing apps is now more than ever an issue that will require the “creation of new revenue streams, especially since most second-screen apps are offered to viewers for free, unlike most other apps for PDCs.”
The 20-page white paper, which references a variety of previously released CRTC reports, includes the findings of the Commission’s 2012 Communications Monitoring Report that found 50% of Canadians go online on a second screen while watching TV.
According to Evolumedia Group president Gilbert Ouellette, “This work shows how ready and willing our firm is to make accurate information available to media professionals about this rapidly evolving sector.”
The Evolumedia Group is hosting Second Screen for TV – the new interactivity, a conference directly related to the topic of this study. The conference will take place on November 28, 2012 in Montreal.
