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Shazam taps into small-screen potential with 'companion app' for TV audiences Fancy that hat Rihanna's wearing on TV? Shazam wants to help you track it down
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When a brand name becomes a verb, you know it has hit the big time. Hoover did it, as did Google. More recently, "Shazaming" has entered the vernacular, with it is claimed 30% of the UK population using the smartphone app that made its name, enabling users to identify music on the radio or TV. When a brand name becomes a verb, you know it has hit the big time. Hoover did it. Google did it. Another technology company wants us to believe "Shazamming" has entered our day-to-day vernacular. Shazam claims it has millions of users using an app that made its name enabling people to identify music tracks on the radio or TV.
Now the technology brains behind Shazam are promising to wave a magic wand over our daily routines, revolutionising the way that we use mobile devices to shop and consume information, and allowing us to order a jacket or pair of shoes worn by an on-screen personality with just one simple Shazam. Now the technology brains behind the product are promising to wave a magic wand over our daily routines, revolutionising the way that we use mobile devices to shop and consume information, and allowing us to order a jacket or pair of shoes worn by an on-screen personality with just one simple Shazam.
Do you like the cut of Paul Weller's jib? Click here to buy the look. "We have the ability to identify the product in a TV show so that when somebody Shazams it, they could find out where a presenter's dress is from in one click," explained CEO Andrew Fisher, who joined the UK start-up in 2005, six years after its launch, and is credited with making it a global brand. He said: "We are focused on creating a new category which we call media engagement. We make it easier for consumers to engage with a brand or a piece of content they are interested in, without having to go through search engines, then mining the results. That works with both TV programming and advertising: a 30-second slot can be turned into a three-minute brand engagement – and more."
"We have the ability to identify the product in a TV show, so that when somebody Shazams it they could find out where a presenter's dress is from in one click," said the CEO, Andrew Fisher, who joined the UK startup in 2005, six years after its launch, and is credited with taking a successful enterprise and making it a global brand. "So we are focused on creating a new category, which we call media engagement. We want to make it easier for consumers to engage with a brand or a piece of content they are interested in without having to go through search engines, then mining the results. That works with both TV programming and advertising: a 30-second slot can be turned into a three-minute brand engagement – and more. 2013 is a very big year for us in terms of moving into TV in the UK." This week, Fisher announced he had wooed Daniel Danker, the £250,000-a-year head of the BBC's much-lauded on-demand services, to take up the newly created role of chief product officer at Shazam. He joins another high-profile recruit, Brent Hoberman, co-founder of lastminute.com, who was appointed to the board last November. Their remit is to develop software platforms alongside TV and commercial partnerships in the UK and beyond.
The company, which employs about 125 people at its headquarters in Hammersmith, west London, and at another 40 offices around the world, has astounded the digital world with its growth of late. Over the past 12 months it has increased its customer base by two million new users a week. "Global brand advertising is worth about a trillion dollars, so anyone who can tap into that is going to be richly rewarded," said Fisher. "We want Shazam to be that company. There are five billion mobile phones in the world, so we are only at 5% of the market opportunity: that's a lot of growth and development potential."
It claims that 300 million people around the world use Shazam, taking advantage of an increasingly sophisticated app that has diversified way beyond its initial remit. The consumer insight agency Nielsen published data last year demonstrating that four out of five of us monitor a mobile phone or tablet while watching television. A spokeswoman said there had been 20m downloads of Shazam in the UK. The Observer asked Shazam to provide evidence for exactly how many unique users it has but it did not want to supply any. The company, which employs 125 people in its Hammersmith HQ and another 40 overseas, claims to be adding two million users a week worldwide.
Shazam had already recognised the potential to marry multimedia consumption habits with innovative technology that delivered a "second screen", adding another tier of information and experience for viewers. In the US, where Shazam's market penetration is also about a third of the population, TV viewers are using the technology as a "companion app", delivering extra content to support programming on 160 channels, 24/7. Last year, the consumer-insight agency Neilsen published data demonstrating that four out of five of those who have a mobile phone or tablet monitor it while watching television. Shazam had already married our multimedia consumption habits with innovative technology that delivered a "second screen", adding another tier of information and experience for viewers.
Why does this differ from the "red button" on UK digital televisions? "When you use the red button, you take over the whole experience for everyone who is watching in the room," said Fisher. "With Shazam, individuals can access a cast list, details of the soundtrack, read tweets from actors, read the script, buy onscreen product and a whole lot more on their mobile devices without disrupting anyone else's viewing." When users "tag" music or a TV programme, the Shazam app takes a fingerprint spectrogram sample of the audio content and matches it to a vast database. Currently, image recognition isn't functional, but the unique sound content on TV output (at time of broadcast) would be enough to drive users to the relevant Shazam content on their mobile device. Fisher hopes that image recognition is the next step.
In the US, broadcasters enjoy sponsorship and product placement partnerships without the strict confines of Britain's Ofcom, meaning that celebrities and high-profile TV franchises can exploit consumer interest with merchandise promotion. In the US, where Shazam's market penetration is also claimed to be a third of the population, it is used as a "companion app", delivering extra content to support programming on 160 channels, 24/7.
Yet Fisher is still dissatisfied, and this week announced he has appointed Daniel Danker, the £250,000-a-year head of the BBC's on-demand services, including the much-lauded iPlayer, to take up the newly created role of chief product officer. His remit? To expand on the success of the company's second screen experience, developing the software platforms alongside television and commercial partnerships in the UK and beyond. Danker joins another high-profile recruit, the co-founder of lastminute.com Brent Hoberman, who was appointed to the board last November. Why does this differ from the "red button" option on digital televisions? "When you use the red button, you take over the whole experience for everyone who is watching in the room," explained Fisher. "With Shazam, individuals can access a cast list, details of the soundtrack, read tweets from the actors, check out the script, buy onscreen product and a whole lot more on their individual mobile devices without disrupting anyone else's viewing."
"We've hired these experts to deliver continued innovation and strategic growth in our business," said Fisher. "Global brand advertising is worth about a trillion dollars, so anyone who can tap into that from a commercial partnership perspective is going to be richly rewarded. We want Shazam to be that company. In the UK, the ground-breaking technology is currently being used to provide supplementary content for limited Shazam-enabled programming (the recent Brit awards, for example, where users gained behind-the-scenes access and links to engage directly on Twitter and Facebook). But the commercial potential to sell product is still hindered by regulators.
"There are 5bn mobile phones in the world, so we are only at 5% of the market opportunity: that is an awful lot of growth potential." The partnership between Shazam and advertisers is a seemingly streamlined way for business to communicate with its audience in more depth and optimise revenue streams: viewers of an insurance commercial can Shazam for a quote on their policy, while in the UK, the men's deodorant brand Lynx used the service last year to facilitate thousands of entries to a competition. For advertisers, there is the potential to deliver vouchers and track consumer activity relating to their brand, meaning their marketing becomes personal and carefully targeted. "A lot more has to be done to comply with Ofcom," conceded Fisher. "We are not a broadcaster, but we partner broadcasters, so it has to work."
"The challenge for Shazam is adding enough value for both brands and consumers, without inundating us with annoying stuff at annoying times," says the social web consultant Euan Semple. "Smartphones and tablets are very intimate devices, and if we invite a business into 'our' space they have to behave themselves or we will stop using it. They need to be steered by consumers and remain deferential to their demands on this, while continuing to evolve by solving problems that the public don't even know exist yet." The digital media landscape is evolving fast, with technology and consumer interest developing at a pace that challenges regulatory bodies. This weekend an Ofcom spokesperson said that the proposed service was still "hypothetical" in the UK and that "all broadcasters must comply with rules on sponsorship and product placement to ensure that audiences are protected".
Social web consultant Euan Semple said: "The challenge for Shazam is adding enough value for both brands and consumers, without inundating us with annoying stuff at annoying times. Smartphones and tablets are very intimate devices and if we invite a business into 'our' space, they have to behave themselves, or we will stop using it.""