Devices Will Drive Social TV

• by Mark Walsh  @markfwal, March 21, 2013

Second-screen devices combined with customized content, interactive apps and loyalty programs will fuel the growth of social TV activity over the next two years, according to a new Gartner study. 

Along with the rise of smartphones and tablets as companion viewing devices, the research firm highlights the emergence of three trends that together form a “holistic” social TV experience:

• The use of social networks such as Facebook and Twitter to allow users to create and check status updates as they engage in real-time conversations related to TV programming.

• Apps that deliver bonus programming, tighter community engagement and larger social interaction through second-screen devices.

• Incentive programs that allow for more direct engagement with content to generate loyalty through rewards, check-ins and other gamification methods.

The report suggests that broadcasters, advertisers and vendors would be wise to capitalize on the second-screen phenomenon to capture consumer attention.

"TV and video content providers such as cable companies have a great opportunity to target heavy users with social TV in order to reduce potential churn," said Michael Gartenberg, research director at Gartner, in a statement. "The time to take advantage of this opportunity is right now as social TV services have not yet been dominated by a single solution and the market is far from saturated."

While social TV will be driven by second-screen devices, the research firm says television will remain the primary device for sharing video content in the home. Connected TV will open up access to a much wider range of content via the Internet, opening the possibility of worldwide video sharing.