Netflix and the second screen phenomenon

Programme makers claim they're being asked to cater for distracted viewers

Second screen
It's feared that the second screen audience may 'stifle creativity', as streamers decide to 'produce background noise' instead of 'compelling storytelling'
(Image credit: Richard Baker / In Pictures via Getty Images)

Television producers know you're not watching TV in the same way you did before.

If you've ever half-watched a series or film on Netflix while scrolling Instagram it "may surprise you" to learn that the streaming giant knows you "engage in this obscene behaviour" and "actually wants you to carry on", said The Guardian.

Viewers are often barely paying attention

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

  Chas Newkey-Burden has been part of The Week Digital team for more than a decade and a journalist for 25 years, starting out on the irreverent football weekly 90 Minutes, before moving to lifestyle magazines Loaded and Attitude. He was a columnist for The Big Issue and landed a world exclusive with David Beckham that became the weekly magazine’s bestselling issue. He now writes regularly for The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Independent, Metro, FourFourTwo and the i new site. He is also the author of a number of non-fiction books.