Google & EA Sports’ Second-Screen Content

US video-game developer EA Sports and Google's advertising development team Art, Copy & Code have released the Madden Giferator – an online tool to create captioned gifs using EA's Madden NFL 15 American football video-game footage.

Users can pick their favourite NFL team, a player and a background, add their own text, and have a loop animation ready for their Twitter feed in a few clicks. The Giferator is essentially a platform for digital-age 'smack talk'.

Global marketing research firm Nielsen has found that in the US, 80% of TV viewers now have a second device at hand. This enables them to participate in relevant conversations online as they watch. Gifs are the lingua franca of online discourse; Google search stats indicate a steady increase in popularity of the looped animations. With an accessible tool to build them in real time, EA Sports has identified and met a need in the American football fan community watching from home.

Additionally, sport's biggest players are integrating 4G and wi-fi connectivity and spectacular wrap-around screens into their upcoming stadiums. With connected stadiums, second screens are set to become just as important in the stands – and very valuable ad space for sponsorship partners.

More strategies for sports brands can be found in our recent report The Sports-Marketing Playbook.