Second Screening—The Influence of Concurrent TV Consumption on Online Shopping Behavior

The practice of using a “second screen” while concurrently watching television (TV) has become a widespread phenomenon. People use a smartphone, a tablet, or a laptop while watching TV to conduct research on the show that they are watching, to communicate with their friends, or to do online shopping. Whereas work on multitasking suggests that TV consumption may lead to lower online sales, research in the area of impulse buying suggests the opposite. Our finding, based on a panel data set following 100,000 consumers in the United States and a Big Data set from browsing behavior, shows on the aggregate and the individual level that second screening can lead to higher sales for low-complexity goods (e.g., beverages, food, detergents) but causes lower sales of highly complex goods like financial products and consumer electronics. If a TV program appeals to a large TV audience, then this results in fewer immediate sales of high-complexity products (1% increase in TV consumption leads to −2.2% sales) and more sales of low-complexity products (1% increase in TV consumption leads to +8.8% sales).