Well positioned
UK-based mobile discovery app Shazam has announced it has raised an additional $32 million of funding from various VCs, much of which will be earmarked to assist its expansion into TV.
Shazam works by recognising short pieces of audio, then automatically finding related content online for you to access via your smartphone. So far this has mainly focused on music, allowing you to identify a song on the radio, for example, and then get instant access to buy links, other content, merchandise, etc.
A natural extension of this functionality is the TV, which is the environment in which people most use smartphones, and is increasingly becoming Internet connected. While there are a lot of Internet TV initiatives already in varying stages of maturity, it's increasingly thought that people would rather augment their TV viewing via a second screen, such as a smartphone or tablet.
The trick with getting people to use the Internet while watching TV is to make it effortless. Scrolling through TV channels is about the limit of how much people are prepared to exert themselves once slumped in front of the box, so don't expect them to start ‘surfing'. But having said that, people do want choice and some want to interact with TV programmes in order to vote, comment, or whatever.
This is where TV apps come in. There are general TV guides, social TV apps that allow you to talk about what you're watching with other viewers, and show-specific apps, such as those for the X-Factor and that sort of thing. But finding those apps can still be a bit of a hassle, which is where discovery technology comes in.
Shazam wants people to use its app to detect audio signatures from the TV and interact with that piece of content accordingly. While this could be used to find the website or app for a TV show, the more immediate commercial opportunity seems to come from adverts. Typically you'll get a TV ad with some kind of prompt to use Shazam. After doing so you will get all kinds of shiny new promotional material delivered to your phone.
"Music is still at the core of our DNA and will always remain fundamental to who we are," said Andrew Fisher, CEO of Shazam. "Our expansion into television is a natural evolution of our technology and we are excited to have delivered the same powerful discovery experience for broadcasting and advertising that people have always loved with music.
"Our size and growth is unparalleled in the industry and gives our network and brand partners reach not available with anyone else. This investment will support our continued growth, both organically and through acquisition, as well as the ongoing development of new features and products, keeping us at the forefront of innovation."
Shazam is far from the only company to use audio recognition in a TV app content. IntoNow was acquired by Yahoo earlier this year precisely with this use-case in mind, while Watchpoints is another start-up in this space. But with the high market penetration of its current app - growing at a million users per week - Shazam would appear to have a head-start on its competitors, and seems well positioned to dominate what could be a huge market. Here's a vid.
And here's a bit of third-party corroboration.
