When ads start jumping to the second screen

It’s enough to give advertisers nightmares: more and more people picking up their phones and tablets during commercial breaks and tuning out the ads. (That’s if they’re still watching broadcast TV at all).

“As an advertiser, you’re never really sure if the audience that the networks say they’re delivering to you actually watch your ads,” says analyst Paul Sweeney with Bloomberg Industries.

Now the company Xaxis has developed a product called Sync to reclaim those “lost” TV viewers. It sends complementary ads to the ones you’re ignoring on TV right to websites you’re likely to visit online.

“Oh, you’re hearing a commercial for a food company and then, oh, I’m looking at my Facebook and there’s a sponsored post there,” says Xaxis’ Larry Allen.

The big idea: There’s no escape during commercial break.