Last week Shazam announced that it would be tagging not only the halftime show, but the entire SuperBowl and many of the ads during the game with prizes ranging from gift cards to cars. Shazam, previously known as a song ID app that allowed users to identify music by simply holding their phone towards the source, has expanded to be a multipurpose audio recognition app. What’s the difference? It’s not just for music anymore.
There had been buzz about Shazam expanding into television circulating around media and tech blogs over the past few months, and Sunday’s Super Bowl demonstrated just the sort of thing they had in mind – and how successful it can be. According to Evolver.FM, over a million people tagged plays, performances, and commercials during Sunday evening’s broadcast.
Shazam isn’t taking a break either. Their next event: this Sunday’s Grammy Awards. Between tons of musical performances and 3 hours of programming based around announcements and surprises, it will be interesting to see how the engagement for the biggest awards show in music compares to the biggest annual event on television (the Super Bowl).
While we don’t want to claim that Shazam can save advertising from the DVR generation, it is exciting to see a technology that may encourage viewers to engage with content on a deeper level, whether it’s programming or advertising.
