Media bosses hope mobile devices will help, rather than hurt, television
Old-fashioned TV companies see the opportunity too, and insist the second screen will not hurt their first, and primary, source of advertising revenue. Viewers who are multitasking with other devices tend to tune in for longer, because they are commenting on the shows online or interacting with extra content through the networks’ apps. A survey by Bravo, an American network owned by Comcast, found that viewers using mobile phones were also more likely to sit through adverts. TV executives predict it will become more common to sync TV and mobile ads, so marketing messages are reinforced across the two screens. On October 7th, Nielsen, a firm whose ratings determine how much TV networks get paid for ads, launched a new product that analyses how many people comment about shows on Twitter.
But with more screens, advertising may become confusing. Firms will start to advertise on mobiles while viewers watch a TV ad for a rival product, predicts Charles Muirhead of Rightster, an online-video platform. And media firms must be careful not to besiege viewers with too many ads and novel features. “There’s a fine line between providing consumers with information they want and annoying them,” says Alan Wurtzel, president of research at NBCUniversal, a media firm.
