• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, August 20, 2012

It came from Christopher J. Golier, vice president-mobile marketing and strategy at the National Hockey League, who given his title, no doubt has a stake in the adoption of mobile media. That said, he started off his presentation at the Mobile Insider Summit with one of those overstatements that I think we all need to be careful of.

“Nobody sits and watches TV – nobody sits and watches a game – without a device in their hand,” he began.

Okay, so I understand his point and what he’s trying to say, and I know that a lot – maybe even most people these days (though I don’t have the Nielsen or other stats at my fingertips, even if I do have a mobile device at them…) – utilize mobile devices while watching TV, I don’t believe “everybody” does.

So let’s keep it in perspective, and avoid the Kool-Aid talk, and hyperbole.

The reason I’m mentioning this here, is that the TV industry in particular is going mobile ga-ga right now (and social media ga-ga too, but I’ll save that for a Social Insider Summit post). Mainly, they’re excited that there’s some “second screen” action going on around the “first screen,” you know, TV.

And Golier started off by acknowledging that TV still pays the NHL’s bills and that he knows where his “bread is buttered,” and that the league’s mobile strategy is more as an accelerator for the TV viewing experience.

It’s the same play other leagues and networks are taking form their mobile and social playbooks: How do you utilize the second screen experiences to get more out of the primary ones. In other words, when you’re managing a major sports league like the NHL, you want to skate to where the media hockey puck will be, even if it’s not quite there yet.

Back shortly with some legit estimates on how many people are actually watching TV and games while utilizing a mobile device in their hand, unless one of you  happens to know the answer to that first (post it here).