Second screen is today’s Wild West. It’s a nascent market with a ton of experimentation. There are going to be a few winners over the next three years, but there are going to be even more losers as the market shakes out and consumer preferences firm. There’s been much written about ruining the second screen experience, but lately I’ve been thinking more about how the second screen experience might ruin the first screen experience.
There are many ways a second screen experience can ruin a first screen experience. Logically, the first would be through a poor second screen experience. But here I’ll focus on how a good second screen experience might ruin a first screen experience. In many if not most cases, I think a poor second screen experience will simply drive users to abandon the second screen experience and focus exclusively on the first screen programming. But if the second screen experience is seamlessly integrated into the first screen experience and offers compelling content, viewers are likely to stick with the second screen experience and at times that could be to the detriment to of the first screen program.
When the second screen is offering more robust programming or more interactive programming it could significantly distract from the first screen experience. So while most of the early focus will be on making a good second screen experience this is a necessary but not a sufficient condition. In order for the second screen experience to actually accomplish it’s goal it must add to the first screen experience. If it bests the first screen experience, it might fail in it’s mission.
