• by Sean Hargrave , Staff Writer, July 7, 2014

It had to happen as PCs continue to decline by a handful of percentage points each year -- the tablet is on the verge of outselling personal computers.

We have long since become accustomed to the smartphone overtaking computers in sales volume -- by a factor of seven or eight to one now -- but next year will be the first in which tablets outsell PCs.

So what will this mean for marketers? Well, I think there are several important changes in behaviour that will reinforce current trends around video and second screening.

First off, tablets are ideally suited to playing video, in a way that a small-screen smartphones or the cumbersome laptop cannot compete. In fact, when I helped an agency look into older demographics, we found that over 50s had a tendency to skip the laptop and go straight to a tablet. This resulted in a spike for watching YouTube, and other video streaming services such as BBC iPlayer. It was an interesting finding, not just because it railed against a lazy stereotype of older surfers, but it showed the very clear link between tablets and increased video consumption.

So a market where people are buying more tablets than PCs is going to be one where streaming video takes off at an even greater pace than today, and that can only be a good thing for brands that are looking to begin making a mark in video content marketing. The current feedback is that it's currently difficult to find enough quality inventory for advertising or suitable slots for native video campaigns. One can only imagine that is already changing to meet advertiser demand, but also because tablets will continue to drive up video consumption, offering publishers a win:win. 

It also has to be a very encouraging development for brands reaching out to second-screeners. While smartphones are clearly already being used to tweet and post about shows on television, the big leap that has not yet been made is brands having an opportunity to give a rich media experience on the larger screen. Hence, second-screeners tend to interact with familiar brands that are typically starting off a conversation around takeaway meals or a popular drink.

Throw in a larger screen and brands have greater space to impress. This will surely open up second-screening to the likes of holiday companies, or even individual hotels, that want to show off their wonderful facilities. Car manufacturers have a wealth of rich media -- particularly video -- content they could bring to the fore if consumers have the means to consume it. The same is true of entertainment companies which have trailers, teasers and behind-the-scenes clips they could push far more heavily to consumers on the sofa with a larger second screen.

So the rise and rise of the tablet is likely to deliver advertisers what the red interactive button on television could never do -- the perfect companion to on-screen messages. Before, nobody wanted to navigate away from the current show by pressing red to find out more information on a advertiser's offer. However, with more tablets out there than PCs, they don't have to -- they have their very own large (ish) screen in their hands to probe a brand's offering more deeply.

Tablets are great news for video and a deeper level of second-screening, and mark an exciting opportunity in the living room that the laptop could never quite provide.