Never.no, a Norwegian company that makes a software framework that unifies fragmented media technologies, has announced Sync, a new toolkit for syncing ad content between first and second media screens.
Sync enables broadcasters and advertisers to use the second screen (usually meaning a computer, tablet or smartphone) to expand an ad’s reach. At the same time, it offers a measurable way to monetize advertising investments in social TV.
Broadcasters have been seeking ways to monetize social media over various screens and the never.no technology appears to address that desire.
“For the first time, advertisers have a way to coordinate campaigns that make full use of the two screens, and broadcasters have a concrete platform for generating true dual-screen advertising and a quantifiable increase in social-media ad dollars,” said Zachary Weiner, director of marketing at never.no. “It’s the first and only closed-loop solution for interactive TV advertising.”
Sync makes it possible to sync an ad on the TV with what appears on the second-screen device. Specifically, timed elements in the broadcast trigger the ad on the second screen, where viewers can interact with it through polling, games and other such activities.
Sync then pulls the results of that interaction back onto the first screen and integrates them into the programming or ad spot in real time, creating an orchestrated brand experience that hits all consumer touch points.
These advertisements last longer and generate ad engagement levels that result in far greater ROI for a brand, never.no claims. The Sync platform also includes advertising technologies for tracking and reporting the benefits of the second screen.
“Now, just because programming goes to a commercial break doesn’t mean viewers get a break from the second-screen action,” Weiner said. “Sync’s backbone technology creates a perfectly correlated brand experience that keeps viewers engaged throughout both the broadcast and the commercial breaks. That’s good for broadcasters because it creates more revenue and monetizes their social TV investment, and good for advertisers because it strengthens the power of their ads.”
Sync is part of never.no's Interactivity Suite (IS), a platform that supports participation TV by enabling viewers to influence a broadcast in real time, as well as allowing them to interact with one another and the rest of the world.
Using IS, a broadcaster can aggregate user-generated content from social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook into programming, and build synchronized companion apps that enable viewers to interact with their televisions using an iPad, tablet, PC or smartphone.
