You may have used Shazam in a restaurant or a mall to identify a catchy tune that left you humming along or dancing in a dressing room. But after this weekend (and a $32 million push into the TV and movie industry), Shazam may become the go-to app for second screen digital rewards.
While social watching applications like Get Glue allow users to check in and redeem virtual stickers and occasional digital content, Shazam identifies what you’ve been watching or listening to with the click of a button. The app has long been known for its abilities to listen to a song and stream back its lyrics, but Shazam’s latest campaigns allow fans to interact with any piece of content they are watching and receive behind the scenes clips, trivia and special offers from participating brands.
USA’s "Covert Affairs," “Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked,” Levi's, “Glee” and Pillsbury have all promoted “Shazamable moments” to push exclusive photos, videos, free music downloads, recipes, merchandise, and more.
When promoted on screen, users hit Shazam’s tag button to identify what they are viewing and unlock access to extras they can “snack on” via their mobile devices as a second screen experience or on the go, with the option to share that content to their social networks.
Shazam is hardly new; the 10 year-old program gained momentum as a must-have app early on in the iPhone craze. Now, 150 million users and multiple operating systems later, it will be the centerpiece of many of this year’s Super Bowl commercials. Download the app in advance and let us know what you think of the extra content you can unlock during this year’s game.
