Navigating Our Multi-Screen Culture

There is no question that juggling attention between multiple screens is here to stay. In fact, according to a Google blog post, nearly 77% of television viewers also have another device in hand, many of whom are inspired to search by what they see on the television.

I am the 77%. As I sit here pounding the keyboard on my Macbook, I'm also watching an episode of Hell's Kitchen on my Roku device, while checking my iPad for email and social communications. It is second nature for me to do so, and truly helps me multitask. With that said, the juggling of it all can, and often does, decrease the attention paid to each platform. I missed Ramsay screaming at his underlings due to raw scallops, shoot! It raises the following question:

How can we make the simultaneous usage experience beneficial to the viewer and encourage increased attention through interactivity?

Take the television and iPad for example. If I'm a network and I know a good portion of our audience uses an iPad while viewing one of our episodes, I'd explore opportunities to engage them through both screens at the same time.

The History Channel has a show called the Ultimate Soldier Challenge where they pit elite military units against each other in grueling challenges. It's no different than typical reality shows chalked full of manipulated drama through timely cuts, however it is completely entertaining to watch these soldiers go head to head. As I sat there watching the show, I thought about how cool it would be to witness a point-of-view camera shot as the soldiers tore through a town gunning "bad guys" down from an ATV.

Now, on the television screen it just isn't practical to show one angle through the entirety of the show. That's where the iPad comes in. Imagine equipping the soldiers with GoPro cameras and providing different feeds for the viewer to choose from on the History Channel iPad app. Not only could I view the show as broadcasted, but also get a deeper look into it at the same time. Maybe there's a map of the town that I can follow the ATV through in real-time, who knows.

Sporting events provide another platform that lends itself well to multiple screen viewing. Take a baseball game for instance. Sometimes I want to see the game from the pitcher's perspective, other times from the batter's. It shouldn't be left to a cameraman or producer to decide which angle is right for the situation — I'm the consumer, aren't I always right? Probably not, but in this case I wouldn't mind choosing how I got to view a game.

It all boils down to the idea of starting with what people like, and working backward from there. The fact of the matter is that people are using multiple devices, we need to embrace it and search for interactive ways to take advantage of it.