BANFF – Social television engages consumers with program-related content on a computer, tablet or mobile phone – usually while watching TV. But what type of programming works best with social television? What platforms? What do we know about the social TV consumer? If you’re finding the future prospects for social television difficult to wrap your head around, rest assured. Even the experts are navigating the landscape with a healthy dose of confusion.
“Collectively, as an industry, we all have a lot to learn. We all need to figure out a way to use technology in a smart way, in the ways that people actually want to engage,” says Tina Ialongo Hoover, vice-president of social media and interactivity with Endemol USA. “Technology will allow us to do a lot of cool, second screen social experiences, but ultimately, you really have to figure out what the audience wants from each particular show and what experience they want from that particular show.”
What Is Engagement?
Engagement, or viewers connecting in an out-of-the-TV experience, is not new, but the platforms keep changing. Just think of the interactive TV model from cable providers in the 1990’s. Cumbersome set-top boxes and complicated remotes. Sound familiar?
Now, thanks to tablets and smart phones, social television is pushing aside the notion that second screen experiences need to come from within the same content distribution channel. Also helping, viewer feedback texting on shows like American Idol are spurring the return of audiences to appointment TV. As a result, over the last year, the social TV industry has soared with almost 100 second-screen platforms available for download, including Miso, Get Glue, Into Now and Viggle.
It is confusing for the consumer to have so many choices – not to mention the learning curve for new apps, but Kristen Tucker, in business development and partnerships with Miso, a social TV app builder for custom content, predicts things will settle down. “There are lots of companies producing second screen apps but we believe it is still early in this space and we’ll likely see consolidations.”
What Types Of Programs Work Best With Social Television?
Successful second screens must be natural extensions of the TV program.
Game shows and reality shows provide great opportunities for play along experiences. “When you watch some of the reality shows, especially some of the scandalous ones,” says Hoover, “you want to be amazed and horrified and talk to people about it.”
That also goes for game shows, she says. Like when you’re playing along with the contestant as Money Drop where viewers can socially engage in real time – competing against contestants on the program and others online. Those playing along have the same game board and see statistics to gauge how they are performing against other online players, all of which helps them feel part of something bigger. Statistics are then used on the show to give context to how the contestant is doing or create rival segments like north versus south or male versus female. They now show the program with this play along platform.
Pretty much any show with super fans or a fan following works too. According to Tucker, “people want to do much more than just check in during the social engagement experience”. With Miso’s Sideshow – an open platform app to download and create a second screen experience – networks create official Sideshows for single episodes, but fans can also create Sideshows to share on anything. Like a fashion Sideshow for an episode of Mad Men – detailing where to get products or voting on the best outfit. Tucker says Miso has approximately 100,000 minutes of various Sideshows, thanks to various network partnerships and engaged consumers.
Then there are shows that push stats. For Darren Pereira, the co-founder of both Indusblue and Blackoptek, interactive advertising agencies based out of Toronto, content is still king. With several number one apps under his belt, like the TSN Sports iPad app that allows users on-the-go access to that network's content, he doesn’t lose sight of the fact that engagement works best when you offer consumers the brand with a different experience.
Social engagement isn’t limited to television programs. As vice-president of product experience for WeVideo, John Canning worked on a trailer for the Avengers movie premiere this year that uses social engagement as part of a promotional campaign. Consumers were able to use the music content, voiceovers and effects to tell their own Avenger story and then post remixed trailers on Marvel's You Tube channel. “People had around 15 minutes of cut video to play with from the movie,” says Canning. In the end, they “had several thousand different trailers made and over a million views."
The Engagement Spectrum: Who Engages?
“In social media land, the 80/20 rule still applies,” says Pereira. “But in this case, one percent creates, 19% participates and 80% sits back and watches.”
“It is about motivation, not age,” he continues, noting that two different demographics may both want to engage in a show like The Voice for the same reason. Canning believes one should target the program's demographics when developing second screen content.
When to engage
Timing is everything. Consumers may not want to engage in a simultaneous experience. They may also see the Sideshows and feeds as a distraction and decide not to engage at all, preferring to lay back. Or, they may even decide to participate digitally before or after the program. “I don’t want to be bothered when I watch Game of Thrones. I don’t want to miss anything,” says Hoover.
With the strength of time-shifted television, the challenge is also to create an experience that works even when the consumer is not watching in real time, added Tucker.
