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If done right, “casting” just might be the “killer” app the second screen world has been looking for.

The report pinpoints which apps are resonating with consumers (and why), and focuses on the new role “casting” content is playing in the second screen ecosystem.

“However, we also noted several apps — including Amazon Instant Video, M-Go, and several TV Everywhere services — that currently have no identifiable casting experience,” said Chuck Parker, chairman of the 2nd Screen Society.

TV remains first screen. “In breaking news situations, users turn to television as their primary and first device (42%), with the majority (66%) then turning to the internet to investigate stories further.

25-34 year-old professionals are the biggest “news enthusiasts.” But that enthusiasm is still TV-first, other screens second

Some 43% of tablet owners say that they watch more TV now than they did five years ago. 83% say they use tablets alongside TV.

87% of consumers are splitting their attention between the TV and their laptops, smartphones and tablet computers. Here's the kicker: Although such distracted viewing is common, fewer people are using these second screens to interact with the applications designed specifically for the TV programs they're watching.

Although these so-called "companion" applications are popular with some viewers, they don't resonate with most consumers,

47% of viewers have used their portable devices to learn more about the TV shows or movies they're watching, or the actors appearing on screen. But they are turning to established sources, including IMDb, Wikipedia and social networks, for such information, NPD found.

Among the most common is shopping for a product seen in an ad, by 19.4% of TV watchers who engage in second-screen activities.

That’s behind only learning about an actor/actress (29.8%) and learning about the show/movie (23.1%). The researchers note that shopping for products is most prevalent among laptop users and consumers in the 35-49 age group, and that “converting viewers into impulse shoppers has big potential impact for advertisers.”

Not too far behind the top tier of activities is discussing a show on a social networking site, cited by 14.8% of respondents. That’s a figure worth watching closely – as social TV has the potential to increase engagement. A just-released neuroscience study from MEC and Channel Seven in Australia discovered that interacting with social media while watching TV drove a 9% increase in program engagement among study participants, and that second-screen interaction aided recall of specific elements of the broadcast.

Viggle Jan. 29 acquired Dijit Media, which builds and distributes a programming discovery service (NextGuide) for the Web and the iOS platform, that helps viewers search, find, and set reminders for their TV shows and movies, anywhere they’re available. “In a world where consumers have more choice than ever about where, when and how to watch programing, we are bringing to market a comprehensive platform to get the right show in front of the right person at the right time — wherever it is airing,” Consiglio said.

YuMe conducted a study that tracked how millennials consume media, finding that 13% watch video content on their smartphones while they work, while another 13% watch while they shop. In total, 94% of millennials are multitasking (and likely distracted) while viewing content.

Smartphones and tablets, not televisions, are the gateway to a millennial audience. Millennials recall brands at a much better rate when they're on mobile devices, and they think of the TV as old-fashioned. In fact, only 3.1% of millennials consider brands that advertise on TV as being "modern."

More than twice that number think of smartphone advertisers as having "modern" brands.

Despite a user base only 20% the size of Facebook’s, Twitter routinely hosts discussions that rival the size of those taking place on the larger platform. If you narrow the comparison down to original content — Tweets versus Posts — Twitter boasted more interaction around nearly all of the broadcasts SecondSync examined in its study.

The difference in time windows is just one of several apples-to-oranges problems that crop up when attempting to compare second-screen patterns across the two platforms. A more substantive one is how to weight the various types of actions permitted in both places. Is a Like more akin to a retweet or a Favorite?

But even a comparison that assumes that comments are worth as much as original posts suggests that Twitter owns a disproportionate share of TV discussions.

TV Guide rolled out an app to see what’s playing, watch whatever’s on, and also tweet, post, and blog about it. And that Apple is rumored to be releasing a mini-TV tablet to enable an iOS-style second-screen experience.

SimulTV’s solution is to combine both screens, right on the web. So your football game, Twitter conversations, Facebook messages, online search, and text and voice chat with others on SimulTV who are watching the same thing as you.

by this summer, SimulTV promises to have more than 100 channels, including ”top channels” from Latin America, China, Japan and Europe, plus 5,000 video-on-demand titles. The service is HD-quality, with picture-in-picture for the truly ADHD social TV aficionados, and according to the company, takes only half the bandwidth of typically required.

A mélange of TV resource apps are getting together to help each other, and their users. Dijit, Thuuz, Tomorrowish, IVA and Simple.TV are partnering to integrate their products and services. The theory seems to be that they are stronger working together, rather than alone. Given the non-competitive positioning of each, this could be a boon for TV viewers. First a quick summary of what each of the companies does. Dijit’s NextGuide helps TV viewers discover new TV shows and remember to watch them. Thuuz provides real-time sports updates helping fans tune to the most interesting game on TV at any given time. Tomorrowish let’s viewers watching a show or event on-demand replay the social media buzz from the first broadcast. Internet Video Archive (IVA) specializes in providing show and movie trailers. Simple.TV provides live TV and network DVR services.

While brand marketers are enthusiastic about trying to engage second-screen viewers, much of their focus right now is on Facebook and Twitter rather than standalone second-screen apps.

As a result, these apps are looking to reposition themselves to attract more use and brands

The idea is to provide users with an experience that they can engage with throughout the day related to their favorite TV shows, whether they want to catch up on the latest gossip about a show, chat about the latest episode or engage with the app while watching a show.