All Bases Loaded: Investigating Soccer Viewers’ Second Screening in a Real-World Setting

Sports media consumption is constantly changing due to technological innovations, with “second screening”—the use of smartphones, tablets, and laptops while watching TV—becoming increasingly common. Using an exploratory sequential mixed-methods design, this paper investigates how second screening differs between individual and group consumers and how it influences satisfaction with the sports broadcast experience. A qualitative study ( N = 12) examines the reasons for and prevalence of different types of second screening (related and unrelated). In a subsequent quantitative study ( N = 70), actual smartphone usage data are used to obtain unbiased results on second screening during soccer broadcasts. The results show that viewers who do not use their smartphone report significantly higher satisfaction than those engaging in unrelated second screening; however, there was no difference between related and unrelated second screening. The smartphone usage time of individual consumers was significantly higher than among group consumers, although their satisfaction was not lower.