What content matches perfectly for second-screen, and why is this solution so important for television today?

Second-screen solutions became a natural part of video consumption and influenced the appearance of social TV phenomena. What content is a perfect match for a social screen? How can it be implemented quickly without any complicated developments?

Why We Never Stop Talking About Second Screens

It's interesting that the Super Bowl's experience with the second screen began over 10 years ago. Since 2010, marketers have realised that using short commercials for millions of dollars isn't as effective as interacting with them throughout the entire game. This realisation has led marketers and broadcasters to develop second-screen experiences for viewers and sports fans.Some early second-screen examples for the Super Bowl included Coca-Cola's Facebook fan page, Chevy's first Super Bowl-specific app with trivia and quizzes, and Arena's community live chat. These are just a few examples, and there were many more, with goals that were both similar and different depending on the platform and the type of video content the second screen complemented.James Blake, a researcher specialising in video consumption and social experiences, published a book highlighting that second screens are no longer an additional benefit but rather a natural part of the television flow and a necessary stream for TV viewers and their experience. If a TV channel, specific program, or commercial brand doesn't use the opportunity to engage viewers with a second screen, they risk losing them to social media or online stores that are not connected to the programs directly. After all, viewers are no longer glued to the TV screen.A significant amount of data from surveys indicates that 83% of TV viewers use their smartphones at least once while watching, and 43% of them tweet or post about the shows they watch on other social media platforms. This is significant data for broadcasters. Imagine a viewer who is a fan of a show like "Big Brother" or curling. This viewer watches episodes of Big Brother daily and every curling game they can find. They also post about their favourite shows and games on social media. However, their friends on social media, who are colleagues and gym buddies, may not be interested in these topics. As a result, the viewer's excitement goes unnoticed because they don't receive a reaction.Broadcasters can achieve a win-win situation by providing a second-screen solution for such a viewer. The broadcaster gains an even more loyal viewer who interacts while watching, not on Twitter, but on a pre-prepared platform that is part of the broadcast show. The viewer gains a dedicated audience for their emotions—a live chat room or social media page that gathers other fans of the show or curling enthusiasts. The high level of engagement here is essential and beneficial for both viewers and the channel. One of the best parts here is how easily such a solution can be implemented and how easily and seamlessly the viewer can dive into this experience.<h3>Perfect content for second-screen usage</h3>Live Sports EventsImplementing a second screen for significant sporting events is the most obvious solution. The more popular the game, the better, but it's not that important whether one million or one thousand viewers watch the game simultaneously. Even a thousand fans can build and drive a community full of energy and emotions. There are different ways to provide them with this opportunity. For example, the Israeli broadcaster used WhatsApp to gather all smartphone and football lovers in one place for the 2018 World Cup games. This case became a perfect example of using second-screen features to create a meaningful and collaborative viewing experience with significant engagement.However, there's one point to consider: users will use messaging apps regardless. Why not attract them to a second screen that is strongly linked to the broadcaster rather than something external like WhatsApp?﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿<img src="https://watchersweb-prod.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/f099a64b-d17b-4482-8381-65a7c9024709.png">In 2022, Watchers gathered viewers of the Olympics broadcaster in a chat created specifically for them. It wasn't a chat within the existing messenger app but a separate chat that opened in a browser, becoming something like a specific messenger just for this occasion. Users scanned a QR code on the screen while watching the game or during a commercial break to enter the chat. It was only open during the sports days (closing when the last game finished and reopening with the start of the first game the next day). This prevented the chat from becoming inactive, and viewers began to look forward not only to the games but also to the chat opening, starting from the second day of the project.Finally, the third opportunity is to gather TV viewers on this particular broadcaster's mobile app, which helps achieve the highest level of digitalisation and makes viewers multi-screen users.Reality TVWe used the example of Big Brother for a reason: reality shows are also a perfect match for the second screen. While sports games can significantly boost engagement in a short burst, reality shows typically last longer. Their viewers develop a habit of being connected to the show and its characters and participants and always have something to discuss. This content is also perfect for quizzes, polls, and additional games because, on the one hand, there's always a topic to discuss in a reality show, and on the other hand, there aren't many things happening all the time. Giving users the opportunity to do something else besides watching while still staying engaged with the content can be a great solution for your show and its fanbase. For example, the show "Love Island" created a specific app for viewers to use as a second screen. The app allowed viewers to participate in elimination votes during the broadcast, and the results affected the episodes of the show. The launch results were impressive: hundreds of thousands of app downloads, record-breaking viewer counts, and loads of positive feedback.<img src="https://watchersweb-prod.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/8cf3129d-1419-4cc9-9634-0bf2f0a6d6c7.jpeg">Talk Shows/Game Shows/Live EventsThese categories may not be as obvious as sports or as frequent as reality shows, but live events like elections or award shows can also be the perfect base for launching a second screen. While viewers might find it difficult to concentrate on the screen for the entire duration of an all-day election broadcast or an awards ceremony that lasts all night, these events are still significant. As a broadcaster, you want to get the most out of them. Gathering viewers on a digital screen keeps them engaged and within the broadcast event's sphere. It also helps keep them updated and provides them with an interlocutor to discuss the winner without waiting for the morning. This fosters a sense of community and makes them feel like they are part of the event itself.***The second screen has become so crucial that a new term, "social TV," has emerged. It's defined as the use of communication technology to connect television viewers in order to create shared experiences around television content remotely. This includes communicating with others while watching television. Social TV situations significantly impact how viewers form opinions about the content of broadcasts, even if it comes at the expense of shaping an independent position or opinion. In the streaming and social media era, forcing people to form opinions about your content and discuss it can be quite challenging. Therefore, avoiding such easy-to-use technology can be a big mistake.***Contact us if you want to implement a second screen on a TV channel, sports platform, or other service to enhance the user experience through social-building tools and real-time communications.***For writing this article, we used the materials from:"Social Second Screen: WhatsApp and Watching the World&nbsp;Cup," by Dana Weimann-Saks, Yaron Ariel, and Vered Elishar-Malka, 2019

Let's look at female sports coverage, and what records and problems are observed in the industry.

What is going on with the coverage of female sports, what new platforms appeared in 2023 for women's sports broadcasting, and what problems in the industry are still waiting to be solved

Anatomy of a rise: What’s going on with female sports broadcasting

<div style="font-size:14px;line-height:1;" id="toc">On this page&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#look-at-numbers">Let’s look at numbers</a>&nbsp;<a href="#problems-to-solve">Problems to solve</a>&nbsp;<a href="#new-possibilities">New possibilities</a>&nbsp;<a href="#get-in-touch">Get in touch</a>&nbsp;<hr style="margin-bottom:1vw;">In 2022, we published <a style="background-color:transparent;" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://watchers.io/post/how-do-women-watch-sports">an article about women's sports and how difficult it was to find where to watch them</a>. Two years have passed, and now we can say that female sports broadcasting has broken records.What particular tournaments are the most popular? What platforms cover these games? Is it really so easy now to watch female sports, or are many problems still waiting for a solution?<h2 id="look-at-numbers">Let’s look at numbers</h2>Wasserman’s report shared that traditionally, before 2019, women’s sports coverage contained not more than 3-5%. In 2019, it increased by 5%. However, the full analysis of 2022 showed a threefold increase, so coverage of female sports through media (including linear TV, video streaming, and social media) was 15% and continued to grow. But we should remember that there were no significant changes in linear TV coverage, and this common growth was provided by streaming platforms and social media that are more flexible to trends than solid and clumsy traditional television.In the USA, women’s basketball is the best-covered female sport, followed by football, tennis, and softball.<figure class="image"><img style="aspect-ratio:1354/1420;" src="https://cdn.eu.watchers.io/1df1d30f-b0c2-4b53-b4c2-c9fdc1e0af27.png" width="1354" height="1420"><figcaption>Nike continues to celebrate both female and male sports and athletes equally. &nbsp;</figcaption></figure>Women’s college volleyball also received huge numbers. The match was streamed on Fox and attracted 1.66 million viewers.The Women's European Football Championship final gathered more than 450 million interactions on social media worldwide and the highest viewing figures on television In Germany in 2022.In 2023, the NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship, broadcast by ESPN, attracted nearly 10 million viewers per game.In 2023, Women's esports tournaments received 28 million hours of viewing, 15% more than a year earlier. Online viewing peaks showed wild growth, increasing from 392.4K to 1.37M viewers. These numbers were set at the final of the 32nd SEA Games Women's Tournament for Mobile Legends, where Bang Bang, Indonesian, and Philippine teams competed.The National Research Group and Ampere Analysis report said that 39% of Gen Zers watch more female sports than they used to.We provided just examples. You can check reports for the last two years and find booms in the popularity of female sports. Interest in them is growing, which influences offers, and the whole industry is starting to bloom. However…<h2 id="problems-to-solve">Problems to solve</h2>However, coverage and an enormous amount of hours don’t mean equality because when male tournaments get prime time slots, female games often go to daytime or nighttime, if we talk about linear TV. Sometimes, it turns up with wins, as in the situation with the NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship, broadcast by ESPN, the results of which we shared above. ESPN refused to give primetime for this tournament, and the daytime slot on Sundays became extremely watchable with enormous numbers of viewers. However, such a programming approach can create a boundary between games and viewers.Female sports receive more coverage, but not less objectification and sexism directed at women athletes. How does it come out? Through commenting about dresses, spouses, appearances, and chosen camera angles. This attitude was evident in comparison to the Football awards: commentators talked a lot about dresses and looks while female athletes were being awarded, and about sports and competitions while men were on the scene.Also, female athletes are not so visible in sports media despite their huge success. Of course, significant brands partner with athletes, and you can find some of them in ads. They develop their personal brands on social media, but on the one hand, their presence on visible media is much less than that of male athletes. On the other hand, even those athletes who are presented mostly belong to what are called classic feminine athletes, while women who look and behave less traditionally are almost invisible in the wider media.<figure class="image" style="margin-bottom:1vw;"><img style="aspect-ratio:1196/1510;" src="https://cdn.eu.watchers.io/f956cdb8-c806-475b-bec1-dbb901e79dcf.png" width="1196" height="1510"><figcaption>©Just Women's Sports Instagram account</figcaption></figure>National Research Group and Ampere Analysis found that broadcast networks in the USA spent 0.2% of media-rights budgets on female-only sports events, which returns us to the previous problem. Traditional media, even if they broadcast and cover female tournaments, are still not fully ready to invest in their development and promotion as they do with male sports.<h2 id="new-possibilities">New possibilities</h2>Over the last two years, several promising platforms with female sports content have been launched. Firstly, there is the Women’s Sports Network, the first-ever video platform focusing on female athletes. It offers 24/7 streaming of programming, competitions, documentaries, and other content covering female sports. What’s important is that it is available for free on such services as Freevee by Amazon, Tubi by Fox, FuboTV, and different Smart TVs.The women's European Championship final in Germany was watched by more people than the men's national team matches during the World Cup in Qatar, highlighted Haruka Gruber, Senior Vice President Media DACH at sports streaming channel DAZN, when DAZN launched DAZN Rise, a free platform that broadcasts female sports 24/7.Companies realised that women's sports weren’t as watched as they could be, not because of the lack of interest but because of the absence of opportunities. So, if one of the main problems is going to be solved, maybe others, such as a safe online space, coverage on traditional media, and wide sponsorship, will not stay with us for long.<h2>Get in touch</h2>If you want to enhance broadcasting with real-time communication, using second screens, live chats, polls, and other community-building tools,&nbsp;<a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://watchers.io/form">connect with us</a>. We will help you&nbsp;find the most suitable solution.<hr style="margin-bottom:1vw;">Sources:32nd SEA Games - Women's Tournament/ Statistics | <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://escharts.com/tournaments/mobile-legends/32nd-sea-games-womens-tournament">Esports Charts</a>Objectification in Sport Media: Influences on a Future Women’s Sporting Event | <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/317240106_Objectification_in_Sport_Media_Influences_on_a_Future_Women%27s_Sporting_Event">International Journal of Sport Communication</a>More U.S. fans paying attention to women's sports, but large gap still exists | <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Daily/Issues/2022/10/26/Sports-in-Society/Female-sports.aspx&nbsp;">Sports Business Journal</a>New study: Women's sports comprise 15% of sports media coverage | <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.teamwass.com/news/new-study-womens-sports-comprise-15-of-sports-media-coverage/">Wasserman</a></div>

Why is the Premier League the most popular football league worldwide? What are the best games in history according to their fans? And what emoji do they use to describe their matches in the best way? Read our small but strong study!

Emojis, speed and colonialism. Why do people like the Premier League, and just how much do they like it?

<div style="font-size:14px;line-height:1;" id="toc">On this page&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#speed-and-elegance">Speed and Spectacular Elegance</a>&nbsp;<a href="#marketing-that-drives">Marketing That Drives</a>&nbsp;<a href="#language-and-commentators">Familiar Language and Commentators</a>&nbsp;<a href="#it-s-all-in-thrill">It’s All in the Thrill</a>&nbsp;<a href="#how-do-we-watch">But How Do We Watch Its Matches?</a>&nbsp;<a href="#emoji-bonus">Emoji Bonus</a>&nbsp;<hr style="margin-bottom:1vw;">It’s the beginning of August, so the new Premier League season has begun. We won’t be sharing transfer news or predicting which team will prevail at the end of this season. We would like to share some ideas about viewers’ moods as they wait for the coming season, how often they (we! you!) are ready to watch matches, and which matches from previous seasons viewers cherish in their hearts.We’ll also share fans’ explanations of why the English Premier League is, simply put, the most popular league on the planet.<figure class="image" style="margin-bottom:1vw;"><img style="aspect-ratio:1348/896;" src="https://cdn.eu.watchers.io/16b27066-30ab-428a-8779-a34161e00348.png" width="1348" height="896"><figcaption>&nbsp;by GettyImages</figcaption></figure>According to a plethora of reports—and&nbsp;<a style="color:inherit;" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://buzzmyvideos.com/en/the-european-football-youtube-report-2022/">here</a>&nbsp;we have one of the freshest of them—the English Premier League is the most closely watched European football league. Some reports claim that the Premier League is the most popular worldwide, not only in Europe.We would never argue with this, but we’ve decided to find out why this is so. We visited trends on Reddit and Quora and didn’t even have to ask because people had been discussing this topic themselves for the last several years. Reviewing many trends and conversations, we saw that they could easily be divided into four groups/reasons why people preferred the English Premier League, according to the fans themselves.<h2 id="speed-and-elegance">Speed ​​and Spectacular Elegance</h2>A popular opinion is also that football's speed and entertainment value attract spectators in the English Premier League. The Italians and Germans have tactics. But with the Premier League, we have fires and hurricanes. Those who support this theory discuss tactics across all of football but remain strangely silent about the reasons why the Premier League bypasses Spanish or, for example, South American football in terms of entertainment value.<blockquote>First, because they are really good to watch. Fast. Energetic. Skilful. Goals. Second, many people watch them. It allows for easier connection with others who like football. (<a style="color:inherit;" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.reddit.com/user/teetoose/">teetoose</a>&nbsp;on Reddit)</blockquote><blockquote>But the element that makes the difference between Premier League and La Liga, for example, is passion. Any mid or low table team in the Premier League, such as Brentford, Crystal Palace or Leeds, can be exciting to follow. Even if a team is poor on field, there is all this captivating drama surrounding the club. You cannot say the same about Almeria or Girona (no disrespect)&nbsp;(<a style="color:inherit;" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.reddit.com/user/craciunc93/">craciunc93</a>&nbsp;on Reddit)</blockquote><blockquote>Because it's the best quality soccer. (<a style="color:inherit;" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.reddit.com/user/cheetah-21/">cheetah-21</a>&nbsp;on Reddit)</blockquote><h2 id="marketing-that-drives">Marketing That Drives</h2>Where would we be without marketing? Many viewers are convinced that the amount of money the Premier League spends on promotion and the quality of its advertising makes the world watch their games.<blockquote>Money. Premier League spent ridiculous amounts early on marketing and selling the league all over the world. Now it doesn’t need to so much because it's so big worldwide, it just markets itself.&nbsp;(<a style="color:inherit;" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.reddit.com/user/ChrisGadge/">ChrisGadge</a>&nbsp;on Quora)</blockquote><h2 id="language-and-commentators">Familiar Language and Commentators</h2>A logical assumption is the theory that the English premiere is watched worldwide because…well…because it’s presented in English. We can understand commentators and follow the news no matter where we are in the world. Many Americans are fond of this idea and follow English football because it’s much easier than French football, for instance. But fans from across the whole world agree on this point. Many of them add that the Premier League unites players from around the globe, while in other national leagues, most players are local.<figure class="image"><img style="aspect-ratio:1500/817;" src="https://cdn.eu.watchers.io/ba9f1656-4ab9-43a0-8625-81d23ead5e99.jpeg" width="1500" height="817"><figcaption>Photo: John Walton/EMPICS Sport | by Getty Images</figcaption></figure>To boot, many fans agree that commentators make it worth watching English football, although here, the details fans provide differ—and interestingly, by a whole 180 degrees. Some claim that English commentators are calm and measured, and others say that they brighten up even boring matches with their emotions.<blockquote>I firmly believe it's because of the English language and how widely it is spoken and understood throughout the world.&nbsp;(<a style="color:inherit;" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Ok_Giraffe6654/">Ok_Giraffe6654</a>&nbsp;on Reddit)</blockquote><blockquote>This is definitely the biggest factor imo. Additionally, they were early to update their quality of broadcast to the standards set by USA sports.&nbsp;(<a style="color:inherit;" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.reddit.com/user/yourfriendkyle/">yourfriendkyle</a>on Reddit)</blockquote><h2 id="it-s-all-in-thrill">It’s All in the Thrill</h2>However, the most widely supported theory has to do with surprise: you can never predict who will win or how the forces will be distributed, even further down in the ranking than fourth place. In the French Ligue 1, you’ve only got PSG; in the Bundesliga and La Liga, there are two teams at this level; in the Italian Serie A, there are three… But only in the Premier League do we have a situation where there are virtually no underdogs. This vague but sweet theory confirms that nothing is in vain if fans believe in surprises and chance fate.<blockquote>Mainly because of the thrill. You never know which team will beat the other. Which is not the case in La Liga or the Bundesliga. In these two, the thing that matters is who is the winner in El Classico or Bayern-Dortmund matches. The competition in the league is very low.&nbsp;(<a style="color:inherit;" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.quora.com/profile/Krishna-Menan-1">Krishna Menan</a>&nbsp;on Quora)</blockquote><blockquote>Because who wants to watch Barca vs elche or Granada. Who ever reads this won’t be able to tell me one player from elche or granada not even 1. Ask Barca fans and they won’t know either. Seem to have it all figured out when they are fighting midgets&nbsp;(<a style="color:inherit;" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.reddit.com/user/gunnersami/">gunnersami</a>&nbsp;on Reddit)</blockquote>Many fans also believe that the Premier League is as popular as it is because of its accessibility. For example, in the US, matches can be watched on Disney+. Many TV channels worldwide have the rights to show PL games, while other leagues have fewer broadcast partners.Only the odd answer didn’t fall into one of our four categories. Other answers were “It’s all about bets”, “It’s just good old colonialism”, and something about purposefully directed matches. No, we aren’t joking!<blockquote>There is the element of camera work as well. I personally found it harder to watch the Spanish and the Italian league on screen as the camera is zoomed out during normal action and it’s harder to identify the players. While the EPL has a more zoomed in camera set up which makes me feel closer to the pitch. But it could be just me.&nbsp;(<a style="color:inherit;" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.reddit.com/user/lazymonkey9/">lazymonkey9</a>&nbsp;on Reddit)</blockquote><h2 id="how-do-we-watch">So, ok, we now know why we love the Premier League so much. But how do we watch its matches?</h2>What else can you do beyond asking fans directly? Among our survey participants, there were both very dedicated fans (who have been watching Premier League matches since 1999) and beginners, for whom this season will be only the second. We did not ask them for any personal details, but did clarify what clubs they supported. We found out that an approximately equal number of our respondents support Chelsea, Man City, Manchester United, Liverpool, and Arsenal, with slightly fewer favouring Tottenham, Leicester and West Ham.We asked fans if they enjoy commenting on matches themselves, especially for their friends. 16.9% said that they do. Half of our respondents explained that it depends on their current mood, and 32% said that they favour the comments of professionals over their own.We also wanted to learn how fans feel about toxic messages during a match. After all, as we wrote earlier, it is precisely in the Premier League that we see an exceptionally high percentage of racist comments towards the players. Of course, this is odd because the English championship is multinational. Nevertheless… It turns out that most fans (55.9%) are annoyed by insulting comments about players, and a quarter of our respondents (25.4%) are indifferent to them. Only 8.5% of respondents admitted that they sometimes participate in such behaviour.<figure class="image" style="margin-bottom:1vw;"><img style="aspect-ratio:2434/1570;" src="https://cdn.eu.watchers.io/e22209d3-ac8c-4c4f-9668-4d9a93233a41.png" width="2434" height="1570"></figure>We also asked which Premier League game holds a special place in fans’ hearts. We expected that we might find a single “favourite” match in common. But it turns out that fans remember many different games. Ultimately, however, there were two matches that fans singled out more than others. Admittedly, one of these wasn’t a championship match at all but an FA Cup match. So many fans named this particular match so that it would be negligent of us simply to ignore it.The most memorable Premier League game was Manchester City v Queens Park Rangers. The score was 3:2; the match occurred on May 13th, 2012.<figure class="image" style="margin-bottom:1vw;"><img style="aspect-ratio:1792/1212;" src="https://cdn.eu.watchers.io/9afbf2a7-577b-48a3-9f56-6882e590d77b.png" width="1792" height="1212"><figcaption>by Getty Images</figcaption></figure>Man City needed to bypass Manchester United, while Queens Park Rangers needed to keep hold of their place in the League. It was the last match of the season. The decisive goal came from Aguero, who was playing as a substitute. Later, English bookmakers called this goal “the most expensive goal in history”: they had to pay out 20 million pounds to people who bet on Man City's victory with a score of 1:2 in favour of “QPR”. In the poll provided by Sky Sport, English fans picked this moment as the most memorable and brightest in PL history.The most memorable FA Cup match was Chelsea v Arsenal, with a final score of 6:0. It took place on March 22nd, 2014.<figure class="image" style="margin-bottom:1vw;"><img style="aspect-ratio:2066/1284;" src="https://cdn.eu.watchers.io/aa749152-5580-4a94-9d1d-cb21a3a5d944.png" width="2066" height="1284"><figcaption>by BCC Sport</figcaption></figure>The bitter irony is that this match was a game anniversary—the thousandth anniversary!—of former Arsenal coach Arsène Wenger. Later, Arsenal managed to beat Chelsea on more than one occasion, including in an FA Cup final. The score, of course, wasn’t as impressive.<h2 id="emoji-bonus">Emoji Bonus</h2>Finally, we asked fans to share emojis that reflect their attitude to English Premier League matches. Here are the top 5:<figure class="image" style="margin-bottom:1vw;"><img style="aspect-ratio:1358/1354;" src="https://cdn.eu.watchers.io/cf48239b-3eeb-4fe4-bb62-a0f788b35bb9.png" width="1358" height="1354"></figure>Surely, this whole range of emotions represents the entire future of any Premier League season, regardless of what team you actually support.</div>

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