Have You Fallen Into the “Second Screening” Trap?Heard of second screening yet? In a recent episode of The Rest Is Entertainment podcast, English journalist Marina Hyde offered a handy (and depressing) primer on the concept: “So many show runners [have been] given notes by the streaming channels: ‘This isn’t second screen enough.’ And what they mean is, the viewer is expected to be on their phone, sort of half doing something else, while your crime drama, or whatever, is playing. You can’t make it as complicated as you have, because they’re not going to understand it. They’re not going to be concentrating on your show.” Still an informal term — you can tell a phrase is new when its Wikipedia page is an absolute mess — the general, street understanding of “second screening” describes any time an at-home viewer is scrolling their phone while simultaneously watching something on TV. From a streaming perspective, this behavior is no longer a phenomenon — it’s to be expected. Whether assessing the risk of a potential project, or sending notes back to writers’ rooms, the compromised attention spans of viewers are now tantamount. | 