If you’re a content marketer, I’m guessing that your mornings sound something like this: Shortly after waking up, you check your phone for emails, social media activity, and browse through your favourite apps, such as Flipboard. Maybe you make breakfast or workout while watching the news on TV and/or reading some more content on your iPad. You then come to work and spend most of the day in front of a desktop, perhaps juggling between your tablet and your phone. And if you spend your evenings unwinding in front of a TV, you’re also likely on your mobile device texting or browsing while you watch.

Does any of that sound familiar? It shouldn’t be too surprising considering that 90% of Americans use multiple devices sequentially throughout the day, from smartphones, TVs, desktops, eReaders, and tablets. We are definitely living in a multi-screen world with content competing for our attention at every turn.

The Multi-Screen Race

However, an interesting recent phenomenon is that we’re also consuming content on more devices, simultaneously. Gone are the days where there was one screen vying for our attention – now we’re even more connected on a multi-device level, especially when we’re watching TV. Check out these stats:

According to a report by Nielsen, 44% of people have visited a social media site while watching television, with Twitter taking the lead. And what’s even more interesting is how this behaviour also affects television production: for example, an episode of Hawaii Five-0 back in January empowered Twitter followers to determine the ending of an episode in real-time. The ending was decided by the number of votes received on Twitter regarding the most likely suspect for a murder; and since the show was aired twice in the East and West Coast, two different endings were selected by Twitter followers. Marc DeBevoise, Senior VP and General Manager of CBS Interactive, explained that they “were very excited about the results. Social activity was up 186% according to [their] social guide numbers, and [their] traffic to the show was up 200% from the average.” How’s that for capitalizing on consumer behaviour patterns! Traditional media is increasingly more intertwined with new forms of media and examples such as Hawaii Five-0 are early indicators of how this trend will grow in the future.

Embrace and Pursue the Multi-Screen

Although we don’t all have the marketing budgets to make TV promotions, the bottom line is that more devices means more opportunities for customers to engage with your brand and to make purchases. As such, it is absolutely imperative to ensure that your content is accessible and engaging, regardless of the device being used (if your company is struggling to make this happen, check out this awesome whitepaper on responsive design technology and how it aims to solve this issue).

We’re ultimately in an era where the consequences of having a poor digital presence can be devastating for your brand: Google reported that 78% of consumers leave a site that isn’t digitally friendly and 61% are unlikely to return if content isn’t optimized for mobile devices. With consumers being more connected than ever and with so much competing content dispersed throughout the web, one bad experience on your site can turn potential customers away for good. Econsultancy explains how companies that embrace creating content that is accessible, compelling, and timely for multiple screens will have a clear advantage: “they’ll have an edge in understanding how to introduce their messaging to multi-screen consumers regardless of the evolution of their devices, behaviours, and interests.”

It doesn’t seem like the multi-screen trend is going anywhere but rather, it will continue to be amplified as time goes on. Are you ready to embrace it? Check out this infographic to learn more.

About the Author

After graduating from the HBA program at the Richard Ivey School of Business, Aaliyah launched her career as Marketing Coordinator at Uberflip! Prior to her HBA, Aaliyah also completed a Bachelor in English at Western University.

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