(via Media Echo, The King’s Speech Second Screen for iPad on the iTunes App Store)
TV and Movie companies are moving fast now on the tablet market. Dual screen is one route that many are banking on. I’m less convinced about the application of dual screen for movies than I am for TV.
The TV story is convincing - the peak usage time for iPad use is 7-9pm and in the living room. There is also some evidence to suggest that digital channels such as twitter via mobile are actually discouraging TV viewers from timeshifting. If you want to discuss X-factor with your mates on twitter, the re-run is going to be too late. You need to watch it as scheduled. The risk is that there is more interesting stuff on the www that would distract me from the TV altogether and undermine their ad sell.
Movies are a different matter - the last thing I want while watching Tinker Tailor is someone distracting me from working out what the hell is going on. I’m actually more likely to watch a film end to end on my iPad than I am to use my iPad whilst watching a film on TV.
That said, one of our clients asked us to have a strategic look at the future UI and business model of the home entertainment market for movies. They have a big issue with the transition from DVD sales to digital downloads - especially the guys working in Special Features! My unsubstantiated instinct is that there’s something about an app that has the properties of a physical object. Something that the user owns and keeps, more like a DVD than a digital download. I’d be interested to know if there is any research out there that proves or disproves this.
