Sports and specials account for 60% of second screen viewing

Sports and special programming accounted for almost 60% of second screen activity in the first quarter of 2013, according to new stats by US social TV analytics company Trendrr.

The firm logged 205 million social interactions in the quarter around one-off sporting and special events.” These included the Superbowl, which accounted for a massive 52 million second screen interactions. Other notable tent pole events included the Grammy Awards with 15 million interactions, the Oscars with 13 million and the NFL Playoffs with 12 million.

Trendrr, which helps clients measure and analyse the way viewers engage with content, said that overall it logged a 127% increase in second screen activity in Q1 2013 compared to a year earlier.

Of the more than 18,700 telecasts it logged in the quarter, it found that the average drew almost 20,000 second screen interactions from “hyper-engaged audiences” – more than 343 million in total.

While a “significant amount of this growth” can be attributed to increased activity around one-off events, Trendrr said that excluding sports and specials, “social TV activity continues to accelerate, growing by 53%. The most significant year over year growth occurred in January 65%. February grew by 44% and March by 46%.”