StartupCafe

Wow, I’ve been really interested to read the responses to our predictions for 2011 series. Rather than just hiding them in the comments, I thought I would gather together all the comments and my replies in one place. So here goes …

[Ed: I actually wrote this a while ago but its taken a few weeks to publish it. Sorry!]

Prediction 1: Home entertainment embraces the second screen

1 sentence summary: TV will have to share their attention with the iPad and tablet

Real time expert Phil Leggetter (Kwwika) writes:

Kate – great article and you are 100% correct about the 2nd screen being a massive part of home entertainment now and in the future.

In October 2010 there was an event called 2Screen (http://2-screen.com/) focusing on exactly this and even earlier than that a company called TellyLinks.com (http://tellylinks.com/) partnered with Five TV to provide information synchronised with what was happening on the show Numb3rs (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Numb3rs).

What excites me about this is that we need technology to be able to ensure that what we are seeing on our second screen is in-sync and relevant to what we are seeing on our home entertainment system (with the focal point being our TV). For pre-recorded events the delivery time of data and keeping that data in-sync is important. For things like X Factor up to 10 second or more delay potentially doesn’t matter. But for live events such as sport or anything that requires interaction then seconds really do matter. In all situations I believe that the sooner the data can be delivered the more relevance it will have leading to an improved user experience.

For events such as sport it can be very difficult to automatically sync up information delivered to the second screen with what’s happening in the live event. Systems need to be built that allow super-fast (real-time  ) retrieval of relevant information to then be distributed to the 2nd screen (and even the main screen). Companies like Opta Sports, who have been involved in sports data for a very long time, still rely on a manual process in order to capture data. Therefore it’s absolutely essential that the time between that data being captured, that data being augmented and value added to it, and it being delivered is kept to a minimum.

I think Kwwika is in a fantastic position to help others build those 2nd Screen applications that add massive value to our home entertainment experience.

My reply:

Thanks Phil, didn’t hear about 2-screens – events like this make me want to move down to London. Makes me jealous.

In regards to sports and other real time events. First reaction is YES, completely agree. Keeping the data in sync is key to add to the whole experience. Now, I actually had a conversation about this to the CEO of Sofanatics about the need for syncing data. One potential powerful feature is the use of “time-shifting” twitter replays (stay with me here …) The logic is, we now have Sky+ and other time shifting devices. What we also need is a similar function for the second screen apps which these apps can do – but twitter and facebook can’t.

For example. I’m going to a friend’s birthday party on Sunday night and miss the results show of “X Factor” – but that’s fine because I have set it to record on Sky+. When I get home at 10.30pm, I switch on the recorded show; open the second screen app, and set it to start. Now — get this — I can read the reactions of other people as if it is in real time, and add to it as well. This means I don’t have to miss out on that experience. We have time-shifting tools for TV, so why not social media too?

If Kwwika can do this, I would be very excited!

Also, Grey’s Anatomy has just announced that they will use the same technology as My Generation to produce an iPad that accompanies each episode. You can’t believe how excited I am about this!