Sports, in fact, leads all other categories in social TV interactions. Trendrr just released an analysis of social interactions across Twitter, Facebook (FB), Viggle and other platforms. Of all TV-show related interactions, sports led with 31%, followed by reality TV with 17%.

Expect to see broadcasters offering more opportunities for viewers to interact with and influence live programming via the second screen, and expect to see more collaboration between Twitter and broadcasters.  Media planners will start to cherry-pick TV spots for their social impact as much as for their reach.

Mobile will devour the desktop, and media companies are beginning to awaken to the vast implications of such a consumption shift…This will be a year in which media companies double and triple down on their mobile investments and frantically beef up their mobile development teams. It will be a year in which forward-thinking news organizations pivot to a “mobile first” approach.

The mobile-app economy is growing exponentially, with wireless-industry trade association CTIA predicting it will generate nearly $50 billion in revenue by 2016. This growth coincides with time spent on mobile devices, and in 2013, that number may approach time spent watching TV. Time spent on mobile applications increased 35% in 2012 — to 127 minutes a day from 94 minutes a day — while time spent watching TV remained flat at 168 minutes, according to mobile-data company Flurry. If these trends continue, mobile apps will eclipse TV in 2013, and adoption rates suggest they may.

Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram are powerful forces that are only increasing in societal relevance. But, getting the average person to clamor for a combined social media and live TV experience on his 42″ flat screen is an Empire State Building sized hurdle to overcome. I think content providers have a much greater chance to succeed in this area than hardware manufacturers.

Television makers, networks and movie studios are embracing the tablet and developing original content and software to drive audience interaction and new advertising revenue after initially dismissing mobile devices as a distraction.

as traditional TV networks spend money and use technology to “drive viewers” to programs, the old model says that is good for advertisers.  Unfortunately for advertisers…viewer ad avoidance is at an all-time high. Now, there is great excitement among TV networks that “second screen” activity may recapture some lost viewer attention. Once again, however, viewer attention to the program is talked about much more than viewer attention to advertising.

Cuban expressed his skepticism about discrete second screen apps for social TV, which he proclaimed essentially “dead”. His reasoning was the passive, lean-back nature of watching a show, which means consumers only want to put forth so much effort. Perusing Twitter and Facebook on a mobile device while watching a show is about as much effort as a standard consumer is willing to do on the second screen. Read the rest of this entry »

In other words, the Second Screen has arrived, but the revolution awaits us. In 2013, brands, media companies and marketers are going to get far more aggressive and inventive when it comes to second-screen engagement…Meanwhile, a legion of second-screen engagement enablers like Shazam, Zeebox (both of which were on my panel), Viggle and GetGlue are lining up to help you connect big-screen consumption with small-screen activities.

Much like video never killed the radio star, the internet hasn’t killed television – in fact it’s made TV another avenue for social media interaction. Interactive television will continue to proliferate, and MAM vendors will race to supply broadcasters and media distributors with multi-screen applications, content / program discovery apps, companion apps to particular shows, everywhere/anywhere sports access, and ways to see what your friends are watching via social network presence applications.

Many people are wondering who will win the advertising war between TV and social media. It seems like TV is as popular as ever and yet so many people have their eyes glued to their Facebook, Twitter or Instagram accounts? Which has more impact on sales and customer engagement ? Where should you put your advertising dollars? The truth is that neither will win as they are very quickly merging to create what is called Social TV. So here are 3 keys ways that every small business owner can take advantage of Social TV to build their business: 1. Use product placement to allow customers to buy your products inside a program, webisode or branded content. 2. Leverage the cost efficiencies of digital content to make your own online program that features your products and services. 3. Create a social shopping experience that lets customers share what they bought with their own friends, family and colleagues.

The big cable companies are finally providing open interfaces that allow users and third-party companies to interact with each other and the programming. This is a huge step toward the growth of social TV. Technology like Apple TV is hastening the time when we can control our entire TV experience through our internet devices.

With smartphones now in the hands of more than half of US mobile subscribers, it’s easier than ever to capture, share and consume rich media content. Yet advertising effectiveness and consumer demand are just a starting point when it comes to examining why brands – especially B2B organizations looking to reach prospects at the top of the funnel – need to embrace video content.

The numbers tell the tale. With seven days of delayed viewing factored in, ABC is down 7 percent in the audience preferred by most advertisers, viewers between the ages of 18 and 49; CBS is down 18 percent; and Fox Broadcasting is down an eye-popping 26 percent. NBC is the only network bucking the trend, with its audience up 23 percent in that category…“We are definitely in a transition period,” said Paul Lee, president of ABC’s entertainment group, citing the heavy shift toward reliance on DVRs and video on demand to create personalized viewing schedules…The network programmers agree that they need to find shows that somehow stir instant interest, as well as ways to market those shows across the different platforms viewers use. “You’re suddenly playing three-dimensional scheduling of shows,” Mr. Lee said. “You have to match it with three-dimensional marketing.”

Ross Levinsohn, investor and former CEO at Yahoo, also weighed in, speculating whether media producers would one day have Google or Yahoo manage their advertising options across all platforms and develop relationships with advertisers rather than the fragmented system that exists today.

TIME’s James Poniewozik explains it best: “Hearing a spoiler takes away the one-time-only discovery of a twist or an ending, and when that happens to you without your consent, it feels like a violation.” Yet, spoilers actually make me want to watch a show more than ever. If it’s a shocking twist, it’s almost too impossible to imagine — I have to see it to believe it. Read the rest of this entry »