The music-listening app Shazam has just landed a big round of funding to expand what was once an interesting experiment: allowing TV viewers to “tag” shows and commercials to unlock deals and expanded content. Shazam TV began with an Old Navy commercial and now powers “Shazamable moments” for NBC Universal and MTV Networks as well as brands like Honda, Starbucks and Paramount.
Oxygen’s The Glee Project, for example, encourages viewers to “tag” the show at moments in the broadcast to unlock expanded content. Here’s a Shazam TV promo video:
“Music is still at the core of our DNA and will always remain fundamental to who we are,” explains 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.”
Shazam’s competitive advantage is its installed base: nearly 150 million users with a trajectory to reach 250 million users within two years, the company says. “Over the last 12 months, Shazam has seen a 100% increase in the number of people downloading its mobile application each week,” said Dennis Phelps, General Partner at IVP. Shazam says it sees 4 million tags a day.
Shazam’s largest competitor is IntoNow, which was recently acquired by Yahoo. Shazam’s $32 million funding round was led by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Institutional Venture Partners, with existing investor DN Capital participating.
