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Here’s a question for you: What do you do while you are watching your favorite movie through a Kodi addon? The simple answer is that you are watching the movie, right? Sure, but what else are you doing? Statistically speaking, you are most likely watching something on a second screen. If you are using Kodi through a smart tv or laptop, you’ll have your phone in your hand.
If you are watching through your phone, you’ll likely have something else on in the background. A recent study by Nielsen found that 88% of Americans use a second digital device while watching television shows. It’s an incredible statistic, and one that upends the idea of “being glued to the box”.
When it comes to sports, which, for many fans, is supposed to be the ultimate can’t-take-your-eyes-off-it-for-a-second spectacle, a similar story plays out. It is not enough to simply watch the game; we need to know what people are saying about the game on Twitter; we need to rewind and see certain moments again; we need to text our friends to chat about the umpire’s bad decision.
This trend has been going on for several years now, with data showing that as far back as the 2010 FIFA World Cup huge spikes in soccer-related searches on Google occurred during the game. The rise of online gaming apps will also have led to this desire for sports fans to reach for a second device. Most sporting events will have live gaming odds updated in real-time, and fans will want to react to the ebb and flow of the game.
Sky and BT released rival apps
In the UK, both main sports broadcasters, BT Sport and Sky Sports, have reacted to this trend by releasing products that aim to provide a more interactive experience for sports fans. Loosely termed “watch together” apps, they do exactly what they suggest – let you watch the game together with friends and family. Think of a Zoom call with one of the screens showing the game, and the rest featuring you and your friends. BT’s app is called Watch Together, whereas Sky’s is called Fanzone.
Now, we aren’t here to sing the praises of BT nor Sky. The apps both have failings that we can (hopefully) put down to teething problems. While it’s great to watch sport in the same ‘room’ as friends, many users have experienced problems with lag, particularly if one user has a poor Wi-Fi connection. Nevertheless, it’s what this concept represents that is interesting, even going beyond sports.
When we go back to that stat of reaching for a second screen while watching television, we know that you are less likely to do it when watching with friends. Indeed, as pointed out, it’s one of the reasons you reach for another device in the first place. So, if you are eye-balling your friends while watching that movie or sports event, you are not going to be fiddling about with a smartphone.
Aside from the connections with friends, Sky and BT have both put an emphasis on auxiliary information on their apps – stats, replays, analysis, etc. That, too, says a lot about how our viewing behaviors have changed. Again, it goes beyond sports. When watching movies, for example, we often search for auxiliary information while watching.
Flipping through IMDB, for instance, to see the name of an actor in the movie, or to find out where you have seen them before. It’s not a huge stretch to say that we will see more of these integrations on screen in the future.
While much of this points to fun-sounding new ways to experience media and sports, it’s worth ending on a note of caution. Experts are worried about how we consume information.
A study by Microsoft found that the average attention span dropped from 12 to eight seconds in humans from 2000 to 2015. Yes, that’s right – humans now have a worse attention span than goldfish. But, on a brighter note, the same report claimed that our ability to multitask has improved in the mobile phone era.
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