During NewBay Media’s “TV in a Multiplatform World” event last week in New York, industry execs participated in a panel called “Tablet Tune-Ins: Syncing Up with the Second Screen” that was moderated by Jeff Baumgartner, technology editor for Multichannel News. The panel discussed some compelling points regarding today’s second screen experience, the status of user engagement and the emerging role of HTML 5 technology.

“The second screen market is in HTML 5 technology, and manufacturers need to ‘sync’ up with this technology to better streamline the user experience,” suggests Broadcasting & Cable.

“The market is [in] HTML 5,” said Jonathan Ruff, senior director, technology applications at Arris.“That’s where the vast majority of developers are.” Ruff noted that HTML 5 is already in set-top boxes, but also needs be introduced to tablets to streamline the user experience. “That’s really the value of HTML 5… getting [the content experience] across these platforms.”

“[HTML 5] allows us to have greater ubiquity or get to more platforms faster,” added Dina Juliano, VP, user experience and product design for HBO. “It takes away the time we spend on building the individual platform or an individual piece of something.”

“The ease of which we discover stuff on the tablet — [that’s] really what drives the desire,” said Alan Hoff, VP of strategic marketing for SeaChange International, while supporting the “unifying promotion capabilities” of HTML 5.

Brian Fuhrer, SVP of product leadership at Nielsen, said he regularly fields questions regarding when Nielsen will implement its plan to include tablet viewing in its metrics. “He noted that Nielsen has to fight the perception that it’s ‘100 percent penetration.’ He said that of their TV panels, about 25 percent have a tablet and 16 percent have an iPad, noting that number is growing,” explains the article.