Speed becomes strategy as broadcasters rethink second-screen publishing

With the Super Bowl wrapped and the Winter Olympics underway, broadcasters face a familiar but intensifying challenge: how quickly can they publish and contextualize moments beyond the main broadcast?

The issue is no longer just about live coverage, but about whether content teams can react while audience attention is still concentrated on a specific moment.

Paul Pastor, chief business officer at Quickplay, said these events expose how much publishing velocity now shapes audience engagement.

Pastor described today’s “second screen” as effectively a mobile-first environment, driven by the steady increase in time spent on phones across nearly every demographic. That shift, he said, requires media companies to rethink distribution, storytelling and product design at the same time.

“We know that younger audiences tend to like short-form content and don’t necessarily want to watch the whole game,” Pastor said. “They’re interested in teams, specific moments or something like the halftime show.”

While marquee events still anchor viewing on the television screen, Pastor said many younger viewers engage selectively. Rather than watching full games or long event coverage, they gravitate toward specific teams, athletes, highlights or cultural moments and expect those clips to appear quickly in the platforms they already use.

“You have to be immediately responsive to a moment,” Pastor said.

Publishing velocity and metadata gaps

Pastor said many broadcasters and content owners built their technology stacks around a clear divide between linear broadcast and long-form streaming, leaving short-form and vertical video workflows underdeveloped. As a result, teams often struggle to move quickly when demand spikes around a live event.

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A recurring obstacle, he said, is the lack of metadata across large content libraries. Without detailed tagging and indexing, identifying relevant clips in real time becomes difficult, if not impossible.

In fast-moving environments such as sports or breaking news, delays of even a few hours can eliminate the opportunity to participate meaningfully in the broader conversation. Organizations that can surface archival or contextual clips quickly are better positioned to extend the value of both live and legacy content during major events.

Balancing platforms and owned experiences

Pastor said third-party platforms such as YouTube and TikTok remain unavoidable for most publishers, even as concerns persist about algorithm changes and platform control. For many organizations, the challenge is balancing participation in those ecosystems while continuing to build value in their owned products.

“Most distributors don’t have the luxury of choosing just one lane,” Pastor said. “You have to participate because that’s where the audience is, but you also have to think about what your first-party experience really means.”

He said Quickplay’s clients increasingly view social platforms as discovery tools rather than destinations, using short-form clips to drive awareness while reserving deeper engagement for first-party apps and services.

Publishing frequency also plays a role. Pastor said his team has observed minimal engagement from products that release only a handful of clips per day, while more consistent publishing tends to create repeat usage and stronger audience habits.

“We’ve seen clients publish a couple of clips a day and get no engagement,” Pastor said. “When they hit a threshold of consistent publishing, the engagement changes.”

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On the local side, Pastor noted that stations are well positioned to benefit from vertical video, particularly around weather, sports and neighborhood-focused content. Rather than reproducing a traditional newscast in a vertical format, some are experimenting with more personalized and topic-driven streams.

That shift, he said, coincides with growing interest in automation and AI-assisted tools that can reduce the cost and effort required to produce frequent short-form updates. 

Looking beyond the current event cycle

With more global events ahead, including elections and international tournaments, Pastor said preparation now centers on readiness rather than rights ownership.

Organizations that have invested in metadata, flexible workflows and rapid publishing tools are better positioned to capitalize on moments as they unfold.

Those that have not, he said, risk watching high-attention opportunities pass by without meaningful engagement once the live broadcast ends.

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