The “third screen” is all the rage with media buying companies and content publishers these days. And why not, it provides advertisers another outlet to push products (and of course pay commissions to media companies for placement). But do they work? Are consumers just dying to watch their favourite TV show on their cell phone (and the accompanying commercials)?

Not so much it would appear.

Entertainment purveyors may be scrambling to package their content into mobisodes, video downloads and podcasts, but a new Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll found that teens and young adults — the generation most likely to be the early adopters of this new technology — have yet to fully embrace it.

About half of young adults and 4 in 10 teenagers said they were uninterested in watching television shows or movies on computers, cellphones or hand-held devices such as video iPods, the poll found.

While more than 2 out of 5 teens and young adults indicated they were open to viewing this kind of content online, only 14% of teenagers said they wanted to watch television on a cellphone, and 17% said they would view programs on an iPod.

With that in mind, the new bbTV just doesn’t make sense to me. Blackberries, unlike cell phones or iPods, are a business tool. Most BB owners did not purchase the unit themselves, but rather it is part of their job and is paid for by their employer. Which begs the question - are employers willing to shell out the fee per month so their employees can watch TV clips with company property? I can see it now, a boring meeting, the blackberries come out… and the staff starts watching TV… as if it isn’t bad enough that you can’t seem to get through a meeting these days without someone answering a (most likely) non-urgent email.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for innovative media, but not at the expense of common sense. Which leads me to a future post regarding media planning… stay tuned.

[photo credit: AMagill on Flickr]

Tags: Blackberry; bbTV; Third Screen