Two-screen viewing – an opportunity or a dilemma for TV?

Two-screen viewing has caused quite a stir on Newsline this week following Simon Andrews’ recent Mobile Fix article.

Andrews, founder of addictive!, says that while TV has hung onto eyeballs, TV advertising has lost the war for attention and as such, getting TV ads to cut through is a bigger challenge than ever in a two-screen world.

However, Tess Alps, CEO of Thinkbox, believes that we pay attention to very few ads, whatever the medium but it doesn’t stop them working. Alps argues that TV engagement (not attention) is the single biggest individual catalyst for mobile activity during two screening whether social or search.

Andrews uses Robert Heath’s work to support his point – “TV has survived the arrival of multi-channel mainly because of its supposed ability to get the attention of the consumer, but once it is realised how inefficient it is at doing this then people will start to examine the cost/return equation much more closely. A significant number will realise that the simple messages and concepts can be communicated just as well in other media and the drain will start.”

In response, Alps said: “TV has not just survived but thrived in the multi-channel age because it works. That’s why TV’s share of advertising (total not just display) has grown for the last three years. That’s why online brands spend 70% of their ad money on TV because, ‘attention’ or not, TV produces instant and visible spikes in web traffic. Thinkbox however believes that TV works best in conjunction with other media, mobile included, and we promote integration vigorously.”

You can see the full debate here.