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Shazam’s TV Strategy

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Shazam seemed like magic when it debuted in 2008 on the iPhone. The app can identify nearly any song playing on the radio, even over the din of a coffee shop. It’s been downloaded more than 200 million times and become modestly successful; by steering buyers to iTunes and other music services, it generated about $24 million in revenue for the 12 months ending June 2011.

Now Shazam Entertainment is moving away from its musical roots. David Jones, vice president of marketing, says Shazam’s audio-matching technology can do more than help barflies settle bets about what’s playing on the jukebox. It can, he says, help advertisers and broadcasters make money from TV viewers increasingly distracted by iPhones and iPads. According to Nielsen, more than 40 percent of tablet and smartphone owners use their devices to read e-mail or scan the news while watching TV. Instead of fighting this attention-deficit trend, Shazam says media companies and marketers should embrace it.

Over the past 18 months Shazam has built technology so viewers can use the app to take an audio snapshot of TV shows and ads as they would a song. (The company’s name is the verb that describes this action: “Just Shazam it.”) During the Super Bowl, for instance, commercials from Toyota Motor included a small logo prompting watchers to Shazam the ad to enter a contest to win a Camry. The startup counted more than a million tags on ads from Toyota, PepsiCo, and other game sponsors.

Shazam now offers the same feature for TV shows and live events. The big test will come during the Summer Olympics, which begin July 27. Through a partnership with NBC Sports, viewers will be able to use Shazam to get extra info about athletes and events and to participate in polls as they watch. Says marketing chief Jones: “We’re planning to demonstrate that second-screen experiences have arrived, are mainstream, and can be quite useful and compelling.”

And potentially profitable. Shazam hopes the NBC partnership will help it gain exposure with advertisers, which pay the startup a flat rate based mostly on the size of the campaign and the number of likely viewers. While Shazam insists music is still critical, it’s hoping to carve off a sliver of the $189 billion spent on TV ads globally each year. “This is a bet-the-company kind of thing,” says Matt Murphy, a partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, one of Shazam’s biggest investors.

One goal of the Olympics tie-in is to condition viewers to turn to Shazam for learning more about what they’re watching. Shazam had to invest in new technology to make its app work for live events. With songs, Shazam has plenty of time to load new tracks into its database, where algorithms decipher their unique elements so they can be recognized later. For the Olympics, Shazam’s servers listen to broadcasts in real-time and have only seconds to analyze them. “It’s like a conveyer belt where you’re just a little bit behind,” says Doug Garland, Shazam’s chief revenue officer. A fan watching, say, the 100-meter butterfly swim event might Shazam it to get stats on Michael Phelps and real-time medal counts.
It’s a neat trick, but the nagging question is whether viewers will treat it as anything more than a novelty.

For most people, tagging a song to discover new music is more enticing than tagging an Old Navy ad for a deal on corduroys. And Stephen White, the president of Gracenote, Sony’s audio-recognition unit, says Shazam’s strategy risks running afoul of broadcast and cable companies. “They’re really concerned about what happens to their advertising revenue,” says White, whose company sells technology so others can build Shazam-like features into their apps.

“They’re going to be much more aggressive in terms of asserting what they consider to be their rights around the content.” Media companies will increasingly want people using their own applications, not Shazam’s, says White. Walt Disney and Viacom’s MTV are among those creating their own tablet and smartphone apps to keep people engaged as they watch The Lion King or the MTV Video Music Awards.
Shazam says it’s careful to work closely with broadcasters and shares some of its revenue with those making the shows, though it won’t go into detail.

With more than 200 million users, Jones says its built-in mobile audience is an advantage. Says Heather Way, an analyst with Parks Associates who has studied the company: “Shazam has the biggest opportunity because they already have a huge footprint.”

More Viewers Interested in Watching TV on Mobile Devices

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The “TV Everywhere” push by cable networks is matched by increased demand by consumers to watch programming on smartphones and tablets.

Interest in viewing television on mobile devices among adults climbed to 31% in 2012 from 22% in 2011, according to a new survey by Beta Research.

Among younger adults, ages 18 to 34, 50% said they were interested in viewing TV on mobile devices, up from 39% a year ago. And among teens 12 to 17, 47% said they were interested in using tablets and mobile phones to watch TV, up from 43%.

Beta said that 19% of adults said they actually viewed TV on a smartphone or tablet in the past 30 days.

Beta also asked about what digital basic and mid-sized networks viewers were interested in watching. Most getting the highest marks were: National Geographic Channel, ID Investigation Discovery, Nat Geo Wild, Cooking Channel and Science.

 

2012 Olympics Go Social

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Shazam has inked a deal with the NBC Sports Group to provide NBC Olympics with interactive, social TV experience for viewers of the 2012 Olympics in London.

Per the deal, US viewers watching Olympic coverage across all NBCUniversal television properties will be able to use the Shazam mobile app to tag whatever they’re watching in order to unlock an assortment of extra content, such as athlete bios and photos, the latest information on results, and the medal count.

Other features include the ability to participate in polls and interact with others on Facebook and Twitter, as well as download the NBC Olympics app for access to more content.

The Shazam for TV service will be incorporated into NBC’s coverage from the Opening Ceremony on July 27 all the way to the Closing Ceremony on August 12.

New Study Reveals Key Tablet Usage Patterns

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A new tablet study by the Online Publishers Association reveals that tablet adoption continues to skyrocket, now up to 31% of respondents — and a surprising 74% use the device daily. The study (.pdf), conducted with Magid, drills down on usage patterns and other handy facts. It’s a great nuts-and-bolts study to have, and we’ve highlighted TV-oriented data points below:

Tablet users spend an average of 13.9 hours a week on the device, and 5-11 p.m. is primetime. Last week, ABC noted it “parallels broadcast consumption patterns,” so the network tailored its new iPad app to showcase video during the primetime hours.

Of all the activities on the app, watching video comes in first at 54%. Weather and news follow.

Taking a deeper look at video, shorter-form content still rules, spanning news, sports, TV show clips and weather forecasts. Full-length content, however, will probably climb up the list as more compelling content increasingly becomes available for iPad viewing.

And as we all know, second-screen multitasking (85% of the time) — and even third-screen multitasking (66% of the time) — is a natural phenomenon with the tablet. Heavy multitaskers spend as much as 3 hours a day while actively consuming content on several devices.

On the advertising front, such multitasking doesn’t dilute the tablet ad experience. Around one-third of heavy multitaskers in the study said tablet ads motivated them to research and purchase products. Lots more good stuff in the study, which is available here (.pdf.), and here’s the study overview.

Mobile is rapidly changing the way we watch TV

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The day is coming when more TV viewing will be done over a mobile device (tablet or smartphone) than via cable or satellite. The implications of the change from one pipeline to another will have tremendous ramifications throughout the $70 billion TV advertising industry that will positively impact consumers, marketers and networks.

Various industry forecasts show that TV consumption habits will soon be changing. ComScore reported that in April, 181 million U.S. Internet users watched nearly 37 billion online videos. Cisco projects that IP traffic used worldwide will grow fourfold by 2016, driven by a proliferation of connected devices, ever-increasing broadband connectivity and greater adoption of IP video worldwide. Furthermore, estimates suggest that Apple will sell as many as 60 million iPads in 2012. The latest iPad innovations largely focused around improving video consumption included a better screen and a faster microprocessor. According to Pew Research Center, as of the first quarter of 2012, 29 percent of U.S. adults owned a tablet computer or eReader, up nearly 15-fold since April 2009. Lastly, Rhythm NewMedia recently reported that viewers consistently watch 50 percent to 175 percent more videos on tablets than on smartphones on a per-viewer basis.

All of these facts point to consumers who are changing the face of how video is consumed from a TV in their living room to their mobile device. While we are just in the beginning of this trend, the adoption rate could gain traction even faster if it is coupled with access to live TV content on a mobile device.

In the last year, we have seen more evidence that live TV will likely become available online. The first few major sporting events have been streamed live on the Internet to whet consumers’ appetites for live TV content on their mobile devices. The Super Bowl was broadcast live over the Internet for the first time, while also registering its highest rating. The Masters.com streamed several different live feeds, with no apparent negative impact on ratings. This summer, NBC will stream all Olympic events live, in hopes of both satiating demand and improving TV ratings. Bloomberg Television launched an app so viewers can watch the network live on a mobile device. The growing consensus, as NBC cited in its Olympic announcement, is that streaming live does not cannibalize TV ratings and may very likely increase them.

The more networks provide access to live TV content, the more likely they are to improve ratings and monetize their content. For example, consumers could watch CNBC live at their desks on the Internet, and, in turn, CNBC could monetize their out-of-home audience more effectively.

Another implication of the transformation of TV is the dynamic between advertiser and network. There could be a dramatic shift in the way TV inventory is bought from an upfront marketplace, which takes place three to 15 months in advance of the commercial airing, to a more dynamic and accountable marketplace, as more TV content gets viewed with a mobile device. As long as video is consumed over a mobile device, that inventory can be sold, in theory, on an exchange using improved targeting, real-time bidding, customization and optimization.

Various estimates expect that at least 200-225 million tablets will be bought by U.S. consumers by the end of 2013, and the demand for quality video will only increase. Consumer demand for TV content will be hard for networks to ignore. At some point, TV networks will have to choose between providing live Internet access or losing ratings to competitors who are allowing live access.

All the buzz about Apple changing TV with a new product launch this fall may well happen, but it is how consumers think of their iPads as mobile TVs that will truly transform TV.

TV is changing, but is the industry ready?

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How TV will change the game for digital marketers

TV is going through the biggest radical rethink in decades as it becomes connected to the Internet.

TV still commands 50 percent of the half-a-trillion dollar global media budget because it still engages consumers unlike any other media.

But over the last few years, the rise of smart mobile devices combined with the rapid growth of social media has changed the way we interact with television. When something piques our interests we want to share and dig deeper.

It is estimated that 25 percent of consumers go online after seeing a TV ad. That’s a huge spike right there. Not to mention that half of all TV watchers have a second electronic device in their hands, such as a smart phone or tablet, while on the couch. But whether you are checking your email or talking on Facebook, the habit is now truly synced for TV watchers. So much so, the biggest topic of discussion on social media by far is TV content. We just love it and we can’t get enough, because with every wave of consumer technology — from video recorders to X-Box and Hulu — technology drives TV viewing up and up, and with it the potential for advertising dollars and media measurement.

The next organic wave of “dual screening” — watching linear content on the main TV screen — while interacting on a second screen in your hand, is going to change everything we know about media.

In addition, the ability to place-shift content and carry TV with you in your pocket is going to grow exponentially, especially as the promise of 4G becomes a reality — but the forecast of $254 million by 2015 isn’t something the TV producers are too worried about. The big shift is in the delivery of video — not through traditional broadcast methods– but increasingly via the internet infrastructure.

Already 30 percent of U.S. homes find their TV sets are connected to the internet, whether directly or via an over-the-top service like cable or BluRay live. Best Buy saw 30 percent of all new TVs sold last year were “connected” and this number is continuing to grow.

The distinction between TV and online is quickly becoming blurred — and this is clearly shown in the impending explosion of online video. But sitting in front of your laptop isn’t the future for online video, it’s going to be video distributed over the internet to the very best screen in your home, your television. So what does this mean for the digital marketer?

But for all the talk of smart TVs and the rumor mills around a 50″ Apple iTV, consumers don’t replace their TV sets the way they do their mobiles. We typically replace our mobile every 12 to 18 months compared to every 7 to 10 years for TV sets, though that figure is now beginning to drop. This means for TV to shift we need to think of things connecting to the TV, as opposed to an actual smart TV in the near future. And that, my friends, is the race between OTT boxes from cable companies to Roku, Apple TV, etc. and wireless companion devices of the smart phone and tablet era.

When you look into what tablet and smart phone users are doing when watching TV, we discover that about 19 percent are searching for content related to TV advertising, a huge percentage of which are looking for coupons and discounts. This means that if we can simplify the process of finding related information or even sharing with friends whilst in front of the TV using a companion device, we can find a hybrid lean-back experience with lean-forward engagement.

Whether it is snapping a QR code on the screen, or letting high-frequency audio be picked up by a listening app on your smart phone or tablet, you can trigger a related response on the second screen. This doesn’t just have to act as a single redirect mimicking a click-thru, oh no. Multiple audio signals can be picked up within TV content or ad content to create multiple trigger points such as to collect characters by swiping your phone at the TV as shown by Wieden and Kennedy in its Honda Jazz TV ad, whereby the more interactive characters collected on the phone, the more hidden features one could discover.

But that is only TV ads. What about content itself? Adding meta data to all TV and film content means that potentially the trigger points of Daniel Craig sporting the latest Omega Seamaster in a Bond film becomes a trigger for the companion device to show an ad. Ever wondered what shoes Sarah Jessica Parker was wearing? Well now you can know without even doing a search.

Rolling a phone in front of a TV that triggers a response is just the next iteration of rich-media. It combines picture-in-picture across devices, whilst allowing a mass-reached broadcast medium to be overlaid with highly targeted personal ads that are user-initiated. It’s the 21 century expandable ad! It’s an in-stream plus a companion ad. It is HTML5 at its finest, set within an organically tactile device your toddler or grandmother will just intuitively “get.”

No more explaining to my mother what I actually do. No more convincing your CEO about online banners working, and them never actually seeing your work. Finally we are going to converge TV and online, and out-of-home content with interactive advertising, search and social media sharing within the most personal of devices. Not only that, but the chance for discount coupons and offers (or even payments) will happen right on a phone in your hand. Before you can even type “What is that hand bag she has?” your phone tells you and lets you look at it in 360 degrees, review it, buy it and show off to all your friends on Facebook that you are awaiting delivery of that very beautiful designer bag, all before the ad break even comes on the TV. Bingo! Winner, winner, chicken dinner (which, incidentally, you just ordered for home delivery via your mobile after seeing the latest Kentucky Fried Chicken ad.)

And the best part? Not only is this highly targeted advertising, being able to deliver individual ads to every single person in any given living room, or theatre or high-street, It offers measurability, accountability, consumer engagement, stunning creativity, and all with consumer-initiated opt-in. Did you hear me privacy advocates? I said “consumer opt-in!”

The bottom line is TV is changing. The notion of online video is permeating all media channels, and modes of measurement are going to be a hybrid from evaluating the value of an emotional connection through exposure as well as a tangible engagement through interaction. TV is just a large high-quality monitor that displays video content, irrespective of how it is transmitted to it. But everyone knows this will be increasingly via internet. It isn’t going to die. It’s just going to become a lot more dynamic, targeted, and measurable — complemented with “huge” production budgets. And that my friends, is the future of digital.

21% of americans connect their TV to the Internet

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21% of consumers in the US connect their TVs to the internet, up from 16% a year ago, according to a study released this week from Frank N. Magid Associates. Looking ahead, the research firm projects that number to rise as it finds that 30% of consumers who haven’t already connected their TVs to the web are interested in doing so. Game consoles are the most popular connected TV devices, followed by smart TVs, Blu-ray players, and OTT video receivers from companies like Roku, Apple, and Google.

Apple wants to own every screen in your home

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Apple wants every screen in your home to be an Apple screen. The company will be taking a giant leap toward accomplishing its goal at this year’s WWDC.

In just a decade, Apple has become a dominant force in computers, tablets, and mobile. It has yet to make major inroads into the biggest screen of them all: the television.

Sure, there’s Apple TV, but it has been a “hobby” for the company. Last year, 2.8 million units of the device were sold, and 2.7 million units have been sold so far this year. Though that’s impressive, it’s a far cry from the company’s iPhone, iPad, Mac, and iPod sales.

“It’s not a fifth leg of the stool,” CEO Tim Cook said recently at the D Conference. “It’s not the same size as the phone or Mac or tablet business.”

That’s all about to change, though. The Apple TV App Store is on its way, opening up the floodgates for developers to create killer apps for people’s living rooms. The new TV app store will be part of iOS 6, I’m told, which already powers the operating systems of the iPhone, the iPad, and the iPod Touch.

With a TV app store, the technology titan is laying the groundwork for the Apple television set (the iTV, iPanel, or whatever it will be called).

Releasing the Apple TV SDK is just the first step in Apple’s long-term plan to control every screen in your home. The big vision is to make all of the screens in your home interoperable via AirPlay and iOS.

Once that happens, it’ll be impossible to buy anything but Apple devices, because they will be the only products that work with the rest of screens in your home. Why buy a TV that can’t pull up your favorite apps, shows, and games instantly?

Network TV Draws Substantial Social Media Chatter

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Social media activity for all broadcast networks increased substantially in May, the last month of the TV season, versus that of a year ago. ABC earned the greatest gain for any broadcast network.

Overall, broadcast TV shows garnered the most social media activity, with 71 million social media interactions in May; cable TV shows were at 40 million. Broadcast TV shows’ activity was up 32% from the month before.

Fox’s “American Idol” was the easy winner when it came to social media messages of a regularly scheduled TV show — some 1.4 million for its finale, per social media researcher Trendrr.TV. This was more than three times the previous season, when there was some 450,000.

The next-biggest social media TV show finale was “Glee,” with around 400,000 versus around 275,000 the year before. “Grey’s Anatomy” followed at just over 300,000; CW’s “Vampire Diaires” had just under 300,000.

But when it came to all reality TV, cable network shows shone during May with VH1’s “Basketball Wives” getting some 425,000 messages, MTV’s “America’s Best Dance Crew” was next at just under 350,000; and Oxygen’s “Bad Girls Club” followed, pulling in just under “Dance Crew.”

When it comes to social media platforms for TV, Twitter commanded the biggest share at 59% in May for broadcast TV shows. This was followed by Viggle, a growing social media site that caters to TV viewers through incentive programs, at 18% share. GetGlue was next at 14%, followed by Facebook at 9%. When it came to cable TV shows, Twitter’s results were even better in May, at a 74% share. Viggle and Facebook each at 10%; and GetGlue had 6%.

As it did with Nielsen viewing metrics, Fox scored the best of any network for the month — some 6.5 million social media messages; ABC was at around 5.7 million; NBC, 3.9 million; CW, 2.1 million; and CBS, 1.8 million. ABC made the greatest gains year-to-year. In the May sweep period of a year ago, it pulled in 1.1 million, which grew fivefold in May 2012. Every network grew exponentially, as TV and social media continue to grow rapidly.

Social media as it relates to sports on TV continues to be a big draw. The NBA Playoffs pulled the biggest individual results. With games such as the Los Angeles Lakers-Denver Nuggets; Los Angeles Lakers-Oklahoma City Thunder, and Boston Celtics-Miami Heat each drawing close to 1.8 million messages apiece on specific nights in May.

For all its games in May, the Lakers-Nuggets series pulled in the most social media activity — nearly 4.5 million interactions. The Lakers-Thunder series was next at 3.0 million.

MTV Movie Awards Adds Real-Time Social Voting

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Having viewers vote on social media is nothing new, but MTV is taking the idea a step further in its digital efforts for the upcoming MTV Music Awards by showing the votes as they come in for the “Best Hero” category. The programmer is calling the move “a first-of-its kind social voting Twitter experience.”

“Other shows have used social media for voting but what is new here is that we are displaying the results in real time,” explains Michael Scogin, VP of mobile for MTV. “They won’t just be voting and having it go off into the ether until the results are announced. They’ll be able to see how their nominee is doing, which really taps into social media” and will encourage fans to use social media to boost the votes of their favorite actor.

The live results will be shown for the Best Hero category, which is being sponsored by Sprint.

Colin Helms, senior VP of digital for MTV adds that the new live voting results is one of a number of new features that are being added to their digital platforms to encourage viewers’ involvement with the award show.

“For any of our big live events or even the scripted reality program the goal is always to find ways to engage the audience with the show before, during and after its airing,” he noted. “We are always looking for new ways to do that and the social voting is one example of how we are looking to build fan excitement and the two screen experience.”

For the awards, MTV will also introduce a new Facebook tracker, created with Offerpop. The new version of the Facebook tracker will highlight and visualize fan likes and shares of key show moments from the MTV Facebook page.

During the show, MTV will also offer an extensive second screen co-viewing experience, All Access Live. This will allow users to access to content from different cameras and offer them a variety of additional content and tools for discussing and sharing highlights of the show.