Second-screen app

What a second-screen app is

A second-screen app is any app built to be used on a phone or tablet while the main event plays on a bigger screen across the room. The television carries the broadcast; the phone carries something extra. That extra can be stats, a group chat, a fantasy scoreboard, a trivia game or a contest that follows the action. The phrase comes from broadcasters, who noticed years ago that most viewers already had a phone in their hand during a game and started designing for it rather than competing with it.

The defining trait is timing. A second-screen app is only useful while the first screen is on, so it is built around short interactions that fit between plays, during a timeout or in a commercial break, and it tries not to pull attention away at the moment something happens on the field.

An example

A group of friends is watching a Sunday night game at one apartment. One has a stats app open to check a running back's yards. Two are in a group chat arguing about a penalty. Another is refreshing a fantasy app to see whether a receiver's touchdown helped their lineup. All four are using second-screen apps. None of them changes what happens on the television; each adds a layer of information or stakes on top of it.

How Speed Survivor is different

Speed Survivor is a second-screen app with a contest built into the timing. Most second-screen apps are passive: you check them when you feel like it. In Speed Survivor, the game asks you something. Twelve live questions arrive during one NFL game, about one every five minutes of game clock, and each is open for a short window. Answer correctly to score, answer fast to score more through the speed bonus, and survive the cuts to reach the split at the final whistle.

That means the phone and the television work together rather than competing for your eyes. You watch the play, the question arrives about what happens next, and your read of the game on the big screen is what decides your answer on the small one. How it works walks through a full contest from lock to settlement.