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"Sony's new high-end televisions have a neat trick, enabled by Miracast and NFC, that allows users to simply tap their Xperia device with the TV's remote control to mirror the smartphone display on the big screen. Sony says all of its new high-end televisions (W800 or better) will have Miracast and an NFC-enabled remote control. We got a chance to check out the technology in action on the show floor, and to put it simply, it's really cool; it takes a few seconds of holding the remote to the back of the Xperia Z to connect the smartphone to the television, at which point the TV displays whatever you've got open on the phone. It's one of the best television screen-sharing implementations we've seen, as it makes screen sharing nearly effortless. To disable the mirroring, users just need to re-tap their phone to the remote control."

Scott Rosenberg, Umami's chief executive, said he was concerned that advertisers were rushing to embrace second screens well before they were ready to offer compelling content. "The traditional bargain with TV is, 'We give you great content and you accept our advertising messaging,' " Mr. Rosenberg said. "Why should the second screen be any different? Actually, the bar for great content is even higher."

Bolger pointed out that people are overwhelmingly (91%) using tablets at home, typically in the living room and bedroom. Hence, the rise of two-screen viewing. More than half (53%) of those surveyed by comScore said they use their tablet while watching TV, with more than half of that group (56%) doing activities related to what they are watching.

"Starting next month, with the new season of its "Watch What Happens Live" gabfest, Bravo will start overlaying its new programing with its homegrown* "Play Live" technology. What that means: Viewers will see polls, contests and other interactive games and graphics that pop up on-screen throughout the show. They'll be able to participate in real time, via a Web broswer, and on-screen results will change, based on viewers' input."

JWT report highlighting second screen usage + executions

""With YouTube external annotations, we're trying to make it a very seamless process," said Lisa Green, industry director at Google. "If while you're watching it, you see something you really want, you can click... We've allowed the user to make the decision to make the purchase" in the video. The beta feature is available to all existing clients, although Google won't disclose how many advertisers have shown interest or signed up thus far. Juicy Couture, one of the first brands to adopt the shoppable feature, released a new video directed by Terry Richardson featuring Candice Swanepoel at the famed Chateau Marmont hotel. The fashion label features nineteen different products in the second video. YouTube's shoppable video ads will display a shaded rectangle in the middle of the screen whenever a product appears. When a user rolls over that embedded video link, the product name is displayed with a link to the purchase page. Google's product and sales teams are working with advertisers to bring these new ads into their videos on YouTube, Green said."

Bravo today announced a Connected TV app to unite viewers and advertisers with "Top Chef" and other popular shows on the second screen. Features include: Videos (Discovery, Playlist) Show Schedule Episode Descriptions Photo Galleries Polls & Games "Bravolebrities" Profiles New Content Inbox Social Sharing

acess additonal info about super bowl ads, display stats about game, links to beyonce's songs

It was a long-time coming, but last week we reported that UK-based second-screen app Zeebox finally launched in the US, where it has teamed up with a slew of broadcasters - 30 in total, including Comcast Cable, NBCUniversal, HBO & Cinemax Now, however, it seems that media behemoth Viacom is also backing Zeebox.

"Zeebox does not sell any advertising itself; instead, its network partners work with agencies and advertisers to sell second-screen ads and Zeebox takes a cut. For now, the Zeebox app works only with live TV -- not DVR content. The app identifies live TV programming using a combination of video fingerprinting, audio content recognition and closed-captioning information."

"TV-focused sports apps continue to emerge each week. We wrote about five of them in July and there are already many more on the market. Even Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen recently invested in SportStream a new second screen app focused on making sports TV more social. SportsStream points to this study which shows 83% of sports fans check social platforms while they're watching."