Six audiences, four generations, twelve months. Crosswalk sees what gets opened and engaged with while the show is on.
Crosswalk The Read / Oct 2026
Second screen · Six audiences While watching TV, more than half your audience is on a second screen. Crosswalk sees what they open and engage with. Reality and football pull the most second screens. Age, not genre, decides what is being engaged with.
58.6% Reality accounts with a second screen open, typical episode 52.6% Monday Night Football accounts on a second screen, typical game 1.8x Gen Z picks up a second screen nearly twice as often as Boomers+
Six audiences, four generations The generation gap is wider than the genre gap. From reality at the top to dramas at the bottom, the six audiences span 16.3 points. Reality and football are lean-back TV, easy to watch with a phone in hand. Dramas are lean-in TV. Viewers follow the story and the phone stays down. Inside each genre, Gen Z and Boomers+ still sit 22 to 29 points apart.
Boomers+ Gen X Millennials Gen Z Audience Overall Gap Reality 58.6% 39.9 67.3 27.4pts Monday Night Football 52.6% 34.9 64.0 29.1pts NBA 51.4% 32.5 61.1 28.6pts Comedy 48.7% 32.6 57.5 24.9pts WNBA 43.8% 28.7 50.9 22.2pts Dramas 42.3% 29.7 52.9 23.2pts 30% 40% 50% 60% 70%
Share of accounts with a second screen open in a typical game or episode. Gap: Gen Z minus Boomers+, in points. Boomers+ is 62 and older. Monday Night Football covers the 11 ABC Monday night games. All six cover Oct 6, 2025 to Oct 6, 2026.
Pooled across all six Gen Z opens a second screen nearly twice as often as Boomers+.
Second screen open Gen Z 59.1% Boomers+ 32.5% 1.8x Gen Z vs. Boomers+
In a typical game or episode, 59.1% of Gen Z accounts had a second screen open, against 32.5% of Boomers+. Millennials sit closer to Gen Z and Gen X sits closer to Boomers+, and the order is the same in all six audiences. If you buy against Gen Z, assume a second screen is open. Pooled across the six audiences, weighted by accounts. Oct 6, 2025 to Oct 6, 2026.
Top three, by audience After social, sports fans open stats and everyone else opens the group chat. Football, NBA, and WNBA fans checked live stats. Reality, comedy, and drama viewers opened the group chat.
Reality cast members NFL players
Reality 54.2M second-screen accounts 1 Social feeds 74.2% 2 Group chats 46.8% 3 Cast lookups 41.3% Monday Night Football 16.4M second-screen accounts 1 Social feeds 69.6% 2 Live stats 60.7% 3 Fantasy football 53.5%
NBA players Comedy cast members
NBA 46.0M second-screen accounts 1 Social feeds 72.3% 2 Live stats 63.4% 3 Sportsbooks 36.8% Comedy 80.2M second-screen accounts 1 Social feeds 66.3% 2 Group chats 44.9% 3 Shopping 31.2%
WNBA players Drama cast members
WNBA 10.4M second-screen accounts 1 Social feeds 71.9% 2 Live stats 48.6% 3 Group chats 36.2% Dramas 73.8M second-screen accounts 1 Social feeds 58.4% 2 Group chats 41.7% 3 Cast and plot lookups 39.8% Share of each audience’s second-screen accounts that did the activity during a game or episode. Activities overlap. All six cover Oct 6, 2025 to Oct 6, 2026.
Four generations Each generation reaches for a different app. Each generation leads a different set of activities, and most of the pattern holds from one audience to the next. Gen X sits in the middle on nearly all of them. Gen Z 50.9% to 67.3% open, by audience Social feeds and short clips 84.7% on social feeds during reality 40.7% on YouTube and clips during the NBA Leads both in every audience. Millennials 46.4% to 61.6% open, by audience Sportsbooks, fantasy, and shopping 46.7% on sportsbooks during the NBA 61.6% on fantasy during football Leads betting in all three sports.
Gen X 38.5% to 52.5% open, by audience Lookups and mobile games 28.2% on player and team lookups, WNBA 21.5% on mobile games during comedy Sits in the middle on nearly everything. Boomers+ 28.7% to 39.9% open, by audience Email and news 28.3% on email and news during comedy 20.7% on email and news during the WNBA Second-screens least of the four. Share of each generation’s second-screen accounts. Each figure is the highest of the four generations for that activity in that audience. Range: share with a second screen open across the six audiences.
NBA and WNBA Betting is a Millennial NBA habit. 46.7% of Millennial NBA fans on a second screen opened a sportsbook or prediction market, against 16.7% of Boomers+. WNBA fans bet far less. 15.7% of WNBA second screens went to a sportsbook, against 36.8% during NBA games, and the WNBA is lower in every generation.
Sportsbooks and prediction markets, NBA, by generation 32.5% 46.7% 32.6% 16.7% Gen Z Millennials Gen X Boomers+
Share of second-screen accounts, all generations Sportsbooks and prediction markets WNBA 15.7% NBA 36.8% Fantasy and pick’em WNBA 8.9% NBA 27.2% Share of second-screen accounts during a game. NBA: 2025-26 season through the Finals. WNBA: 2025 Finals, 2026 season and playoffs. Oct 6, 2025 to Oct 6, 2026.
Dramas, by generation Every generation looks up the cast and plot during dramas. Drama viewers use the phone to follow the story, not to leave it. Cast and plot lookups hold up from Gen Z to Boomers+, 40.5% to 36.5%. Social feeds drop 26.3 points and clips drop 19.0, while email and news runs the other way, from 9.2% to 24.1%.
Gen Z to Boomers+ Social feeds and threads Falls away 69.4% 43.1% Group chats 52.0% 29.0% Cast and plot lookups Holds up 40.5% 36.5% Recaps and theories 27.0% 19.2% YouTube and clips Falls away 29.3% 10.3% Email and news Rises 9.2% 24.1% 0% 25% 50% 75%
Share of second-screen accounts in each generation during a drama episode. Each arrow runs from Gen Z to Boomers+. Oct 6, 2025 to Oct 6, 2026.
What to do Match the placement to the generation. 40.7% Gen Z on YouTube and clips during NBA games Put short-form against Gen Z. Gen Z leads social feeds and short clips in all six audiences. Clips timed to the game or the episode land while they are watching. 46.7% Millennials on sportsbooks during NBA games Millennials are where the money moves. They lead sportsbooks, fantasy, and shopping. Odds and offers inside those apps reach a Millennial with the game still on. 28.7% Boomers+ with a second screen open, typical WNBA game Boomers+ stay with the big screen. They second-screen least of the four. When they do, it is mostly social feeds and live stats, plus email and news, which they lead during comedy and the WNBA. The on-screen message has to carry itself for this group.
Fans in the Superdome
The full read See what your audience opens and learn what they are engaging with. Six audiences, four generations, and the top ten activities in each, from a panel of 10M US consumers resolved to one unique ID per account. Get the second screen deck to Know someone who buys against live sports or reality? Forward this.
Crosswalk Behavioral Intelligence Engine Digital Journey IQ. Crosswalk clickstream panel of 10M US consumers, unique US accounts that streamed the game or episode on a connected app. Second screen: another app or site opened between two events on the stream. Monday Night Football: the 11 ABC Monday night games, kickoff to final whistle. All six audiences: Oct 6, 2025 to Oct 6, 2026. Digital signals only; not comparable to Nielsen ratings.
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