Tech savvy execs on Wednesday discussed the benefits and shortcomings of various second screen experiences and the direction content creators need to go to be successful during the Digital Media Summit’s Connected Content on Multi Screens and Devices panel.

The panel was in agreement that second screen experiences on connected TV are most successful when the digital content syncs with what’s happening on the main screen.

Simplynew’s Marc Scarpa, producer-director of X Factor digital and Grammy live, an online experience, said to make this happen it’s essential to understand how the story elements work across all platforms involved in the experience.

He told the Toronto audience that a key factor in successfully syncing second screen experiences with the main TV broadcast is having all content creators involved in the project working together, which he says is still a work-in-progress for many broadcasters and big U.S. studios.

“The studios that create that content are not incorporating the actual producers who make the shows into that digital experience. So that’s the disconnect – and when that changes, you’ll see a more connected, uniform experience,” he told summit delegates.

“Having the storyteller as part of the multiplatform experience – you really need that cohesiveness and vision in order to, frankly, keep the quality and intentionality of the show,” added Amber J. Lawson, managing partner at California-based StoryTech.

She noted that the game for Avatar didn’t meet critical success in the marketplace because James Cameron, as the creator, wasn’t involved in its development and execution.

“When you disconnect from the vision, then the entire organic cohesiveness can fall away,” she said.

Ensuring that the second screen experience syncs with the main story also means that the ancillary screen elements are entirely additive, instead of disruptive.

Scarpa pointed to this year’s Oscars telecast, which had two streams of content for viewers – one live on the main screen and one running concurrently via the app – but suffered from a lack of communication or connection between them.

“[In that experience], TV is TV, digital is digital; they’re not really maximizing the value chain,” he added.

The panelists said that marquee or “water cooler” events, like the Oscars and Golden Globes, or live TV events, like sports or reality shows that involve audience participating and voting, are ripe for the most innovation and success with second screen executions.

The key with connected TV is offering content that audiences can’t get elsewhere.

AOL Canada’s Mark Melling, manager of video and mobile, ad products and operations, as an example discussed live sporting events. Every major sports category has an app, he said, adding that that fantasy football as an example of a new billion dollar industry. But some apps fall short in that users can get blacked out from their local sports teams.

“If there was an integration for something I couldn’t do, for example, getting an alternative view on my TV, or highlighting the guys on my fantasy [sports] team, that’s the kind of integration that users and advertisers dream of when they’re talking about connected TV,” he said.

Live TV events also present multiple opportunities to engage audiences with brands in innovative ways.

Scarpa talked about the X Factor‘s second screen experience in 2011, which was branded for Pepsi, one of the show’s biggest sponsors.

The experience started with a live digital Pepsi pre-show an hour before the X Factor broadcast. The hosts discussed the participants’ performances and engaged with viewers via Twitter and Skype. Then during the live broadcast, the commercial breaks included not only Pepsi commercials, but video with the pre-show hosts discussing what they’d just seen in the show – all branded Pepsi.

Scarpa said the success of the strategy was a seamless integration of Pepsi into next-level content, which was synced with the main screen experience.

The panelists, who also included Microsoft’s Xbox Life product manager Glenn Purkis, Samsung Media Solutions head of content distribution Brad Kania, and Bell Media Radio MuchMusic.com manager Mark Swierszcz, agreed that advertisers should be part of the driving force in connected TV, whether it’s creating transitional experiences during commercial breaks and laying down the connectivity or creating multi-layered branded experiences.

“Creating some connective tissue between segments so [viewers are] not going to check their email – that seems to be something that will take [connected TV] to another level,” said moderator and L.A.-based TAG Strategic managing partner Ted Cohen.