To learn more about a TV show you’re watching, you can turn to so-called second-screen apps on your smartphone or tablet. But it’s still unclear how many viewers will want to use them.
So far, second-screen apps are dwarfed by the popularity of the social media giants Facebook and Twitter. “Television is social,” says Elizabeth Shaw, an analyst at Forrester Research. “We’ve always talked offline with others about what is going on in our favorite shows. Now it’s moved online. Networks know this and are trying to figure out how to move these conversations to their own Web and mobile properties.”