t Piksel, we’ve
developed a
concept called
Piksel Mosaic
which is an
application that
can change its
function based on knowing where
you are, what you do, the time of
day it is, the kind of content you
like to engage with, and the type of
connected devices that might be
available in the vicinity of where
you are.
So when we detect that, say,
Game Of Thrones
is on your big TV
in the living room, then the tablet
can change the content that it’s
showing to support what you’re
viewing. It can show synopses, it
can show character lists, it can allow
you to dive into social media to
tweet and post about the show. So
the companion application stops
being a dedicated second screen
and becomes just another screen for
you to engage with. It might be the
first screen or it might be the second
screen, or potentially it could be a
third screen - but it’s just a screen.
The way we’ve built our
technology and services is through
what we call Piksel Palette. We’re
building out features into a
modular framework, offering
things on a feature-by-feature basis.
With Piksel Palette, we can offer a
function around DRM, or an
analytics module, or a
recommendations module, or a
social pull-in. Pick which parts of
our suite work for you, and we’ll
mix them into a platform that suits
your needs on a more specific basis
then trying to do one size fits all.
Is the second screen seen as an
integral part of a unified entertain-
ment experience or will there always
be a push and pull between the two?
I think there is always going to be a
push and pull. But I find it depends
very much on the type of content
that you’re engaging with. When
second screen was first taking off -
back in 2011, 2012 – there was this
vote, so second screen is more of a
natural fit there. One of our
partners in The Netherlands, Ex
Machina, produced an application
for a trivia quiz show called
What
Do I Know?
They had 3% of the
entire country's population playing
along with this show. A quiz show
is a natural fit.
I think we as technology people
cannot simply think about the
technology and believe that it
doesn’t matter what the content is.
Is a user experience person who
understands both the creative and
the tech needed to drive all this?
That would be your ideal situation.
You would have a user-centric
person who doesn’t necessarily
need to understand all the ins and
outs, but understands the basic
blocks of how the technology
works and the modes of interaction
with this technology.
Right on the content creation
side you have someone there who
is thinking, “If this had an inter-
connective functionality, this is
how we could do it.” You would
think about that during content
creation, during creating the show
or the format. And similarly, when
the idea is pitched how you could
leverage the technology to create
the best experience for the show.
I think we're heading to a point
where people are starting to figure
out what the main success stories
are for second screen and inter-
active TV. We do seem to be getting
there, but it’s very much a fumbling
in the darkness kind of thing.
A survey that Piksel
commissioned last year showed
that second screen has a window of
about five years to become a thing
that people use regularly. Users are
already second screening, they’re
just not doing it with dedicated
applications. They’re already
looking at IMDb to find obscure
Robert De Niro movies while
they’re watching
Goodfellas
. And
they’re not going to wait for us.
They’re not going to wait for an
idea that you could just throw
content onto any type of screen for
any type of programme and people
would engage with it.
I remember buying the Blu-Ray
for
Prometheus
, the Ridley Scott
movie. And the idea was you could
watch
Prometheus
and at the same
time get loads of extras and
interactive elements for each scene
as you’re watching the movie. I
gave it a shot, and it was just such a
strange experience. You could
roughly sync up your tablet with
the film. It was showing me an
interaction every minute or two
and it was constant stuff appearing
on this connected device. But my
primary focus was: I just want to
watch the movie. I want to be able
to dip into the second screen when
there’s a lull in the action or there’s
something special. And I think that
experience is true of dramatic
content in general. The focus of
dramatic content is to be involved
in the story and be part of the story.
I think when we started with
second screen, trying to create
second screen experiences for
Breaking Bad
or
Game Of Thrones
, it
was disturbing what the intention
of the content was. If it’s before or
after viewing, that’s less of a
problem – but then it’s not really a
second screen experience.
We’ve also seen that in game
consoles, there might be a top-
down map view of the game on an
iPad. People were having to prop
up their iPad next to the TV. It’s the
same as with watching drama,
where you’re trying to force a
certain method of interaction.
You’re trying to change user
behaviour and it just doesn’t work.
It’s not that easy to change user
behaviour, and it’s not that easy to
change a medium that way.
Where we have seen a lot of
success with second screen is
around game shows and reality
content - stuff that is in very bite-
sized chunks. Certainly with game
shows there has always been that
kind of thing to call or text in to
A
30
|
ISSUE 1 2015
|
THE CHANNEL
“
If we want
second
screen to
be a thing,
we’re
going to
have to
quickly
learn to fit
around
user
behaviour
”
THE CHANNEL
|
DIGITAL ENGAGEMENT
