Social Media Week is in full-flow and today we covered a post-mortem of the first truly social Olympics with data presented by Twitter, while Sky unveiled its first second-screen service.
The traditional view of the emergence of digital media platforms has been to see it as a threat to the more traditional media brands.
With the emergence of digital media sounding the death-knell for many print titles, including some of the oldest and most iconic brands to have graced a newsstand, many have speculated that this will similarly impact the TV industry.
However, both stories referenced above indicate that digital and legacy media brands may not be so at odds after all, indeed if Twitter representatives are to be believed the two are positively complementary.
A panel at today’s ‘Social Olympics’ hosted by Engine Group’s Jam suggested that social networks that complemented dual-screening experiences fared better than location-based ones, such as Foursquare, during the last Olympiad.
Twitter sales manager Chris Gilbody revealed the tournament generated over 150m Tweets during its two-week duration. Jam chief strategy officer Jamie Kenny also argued that social networks perform best with live events, like sports or elections, when they complement TV.
“We’re looking to complement the live-screening event,” said Twitter’s Gilbody. “Twitter turns TV from an isolated event to a shared experience… a lot of broadcasters have seen that,” added Gilbody.
Meanwhile, Sky has unveiled its first second-screen service that integrates with Zeebox, a company it owns 10% of, via its new Sky+ iPad app.
The benefit for Sky through this tie-up is that the new Sky+ catch-up service, which provides increased storage space to record programmes, can now offer more interactive features as Zeebox uses real-time information related to those shows such as tweets.
As part of the deal, the broadcaster’s Sky Media unit will exclusively sell sponsorship and product placement deals around Zeebox’s synchronised ad inventory. This means that Sky is now able to further monetise its content even when a user may only have half an eye on their television set.
More lateral thinking like this is needed if such legacy media brands are to evolve as consumers’ lives become more digital and also further stimulate investment in the mobile channel, which many argue is fast-becoming the first screen of our lives.
