The broadcast industry is moving towards integrated multi-screen advertising. Recent Nielsen and comScore studies have shown that viewers are more engaged and more likely to watch TV programming longer while using second screen apps.

A 2014 Nielsen study, conducted in Canada, shows that the spending/revenue of multi-screen campaigns will increase significantly over the next three years. In 2014, about 25% of ad campaign budgets were spent on multi-screen apps and this number is expected to rise to 50% in 2017. The following figure from Nielsen shows the breakdown of the data.

Broadcasters have already identified the potential opportunity, and they are pushing for multi-screen capabilities in the next generation television standard, ATSC 3.0.

The industry is also making progress on multi-screen, cross-platform media measurements including Nielsen Cross‐Platform Homes, Nielsen Digital Ad Ratings™ and comScore’s recently announced cross media measurement service.

While the established industry players are developing multi-screen advertising and measurement capabilities, the startup community is generating new ideas to make the prospect of multi-screen even more attractive, for example:

SourceDigital

SourceDigital, a startup led by a group of industry experts, offers a cloud platform that stores time-aligned information that can be viewed on the second screen. Furthermore, SourceDigital has recently joined  ATSC  and is working with other players in the industry to unlock the potential of multi-screen viewing.

Source Digital Use Cases

Buzzmark

The Buzzmark app recognizes broadcast content using audio recognition technology. The app, while using background analytics, matches the specific ad campaigns with consumer profiles, and then rewards the consumer with coupons and prizes. The solution delivers targeted ads as well as collects viewer data.

Yet Analytics

Yet Analytics, a data analytics company that streamlines the data collection process, recently received the 2015 Nielsen Data Visionary Award at TechCrunch Disrupt SF. Although this startup currently does not offer any product for media measurement, its technology has great potential in tracking second screen activities.

VuDigital

VuDigital, offers a solution that converts video information, such as human faces, objects, text, audio, brands, and music, into indexed and searchable data.

iSpot.tv

iSpot.tv measures real-time ad effectiveness of TV advertising by tracking major video, social, and search platforms.

The level of engagement in this space shows that both entrepreneurs and broadcasters have noticed the opportunities in multi-screen viewing.