When one screen is just not enough

Posted by Chris Benjamin in Internet, Marketing, New Tech on Apr 1st, 2010 | 0 comments

Convergence is where it’s at.

A recent article over at Mashable looked at some Nielsen statistics regarding the concurrent use of television and a computer. The general trend indicates that households are growing more comfortable with the idea of using a computer (most likely a notebook) while watching their favorite programs. The surge of real-time social media (like Twitter and Facebook) is probably a big factor.

There have been some neat experiments with convergent programming such as sporting events delivering stats and alternate views during games, adding additional content to repeated shows and of course the ever-present user interaction on Twitter and show bulletin boards.

As multi-platform viewership continues to grow, how will networks and companies take advantage of it?

Some interesting stats from Nielsen:

	Dec 2009	June 2009	Dec 2008	% Diff Yr to Yr
% of persons using TV / Internet simultaneously	59.0%	56.9%	57.5%	2.7%
Estimated number of persons using TV / Internet simultaneously	134,056	128,047	128,167	4.6%
Time spent simultaneously using TV / Internet per person in hours:minutes	3:30	2:39	2:36	34.5%
Average % of TV time Panelists spent also using the Internet	3.1%	2.7%	2.4%	29.7%
Average % of Internet time Panelists spent also using TV	34.0%	27.9%	29.9%	13.9%