New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

As the summer comes to an end, it’s clear that the Olympics and other major sporting events are playing a big role in defining the future of social TV. A second screen experience is no longer a maybe, even for fans attending the event (for the US Open, fans have access to an official WiFi account from the stands.) Brands are now as equally invested in trying new things as the networks. With second screen competition heating up, it will be Shazam’s precedent of brand partnerships that others will need to top to thrive in the market.

Lost Remote: Why did IBM decide to partner with Shazam?

Ann Rubin: During the two-week US Open tournament, IBM is doing a lot of things to connect with fans at home and at courtside. We have a new iPad app that serves up a streams of real-time data about the games so fans can see who’s gaining the edge on the court and who’s most likely to win – well before the scores tell the final story. We’re also using our Social Sentiment index to analyze millions of public tweets to gauge which players are the social fan favorites – not just counting tweets, but analyzing the buzz around the players. Finally, we’re enhancing the TV experience for fans to take advantage of the huge interest in “second screen” viewing” by Shazam-enabling the live broadcast.

LR: Why is IBM involved with the US Open?

Rubin: This is IBM’s 22nd year of partnering with the U.S.T.A., including enhancing the digital capabilities of USOpen.org to give users front-row access to action on the court. The site includes IBM’s SlamTracker, which uses historical and real-time match data to help viewers understand what’s going on during the matches, now available for mobile phones and the new iPad app. It puts predictive analytics technology in the hands of tennis fans.

LR: How does IBM approach social TV? How have social platforms changed the way you think about investing in marketing via TV?

Rubin: We are very excited about social TV and the whole “second screen” phenomenon. IBM has been a pioneer in socializing our workforce, our business, and social TV is an extension of that.

LR: How much original content did you prepare for the Shazam activation? How long did it take to create?

Rubin: As I mentioned, we’re Shazam-enabling the entire live broadcast starting Saturday. Viewers can use the Shazam app on their smart phones or tablets to connect with IBM’s twitter feed for the event, and to learn more about marketing technology through videos, infographics, case studies and video interviews with experts. We’re doing something special with a new TV spot we that was shot in Prague — it’s a clever visual take on how people are individuals, not part of groups. Viewers can use the Shazam app to see a short “behind the scenes” video about see how the spot was produced.

LR: What results are you looking for?

Rubin: This is all about using Big Data to improve the fan experience, regardless of where the fans are. Sports events like the U.S. Open are no different from businesses and governments because they are all looking for new ways to uncover hidden insights from data to up their game and personalize the customer experience.

LR: Anything else?

Rubin: I hope you can come see the IBM Game Changer Interactive Wall, which presents many of the features on USOpen.Org and the mobile app. Fans can interact with the wall to access live scores, match analysis and data visualizations from IBM’s Social Sentiment Index, as well as local weather and its effect on things like how much players need to stay hydrated.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Shazam was one of the first social TV players to announce an Olympics partnership with NBC, enabling viewers to use their Shazam apps to “tag” coverage and commercials. Today, they’ve even announced (but have yet to tweet about it from @Shazam) that they’ve reached 5 billion total tags since they launched in the early iPhone days, an impressive milestone. They’re not releasing the breakdown between TV and music tags, but to be fair their TV growth is much more recent.

Here are the top moments that have been Shazamed during the Olympics. As they pointed out to us, notice that swimming has been especially popular:

Saturday: Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh Jennings Win Opening Beach Volleyball Match vs. Australia

Sunday:

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

]]> Natan Edelsburg http://lostremote.com/the-most-shazamed-moments-of-the-olympics_b32829#disqus_thread http://lostremote.com/the-most-shazamed-moments-of-the-olympics_b32829 http://www.lostremote.com/?p=32829 Tue, 07 Aug 2012 12:15:51 +0000 Shazam continues to launch major partnerships with TV, this time with WWE. On July 23rd users will be able unlock exclusive content in honor of RAW’s 1000th episode. Lost Remote has learned exclusively about the details of the partnership in addition to never before released data on what music is being Shazamed during TV. continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

]]> Natan Edelsburg http://lostremote.com/exclusive-shazam-launches-partnership-with-wwe-revelas-tv-music-data_b32223#disqus_thread http://lostremote.com/exclusive-shazam-launches-partnership-with-wwe-revelas-tv-music-data_b32223 http://www.lostremote.com/?p=32223 Thu, 19 Jul 2012 10:51:36 +0000 Shazam has landed a big partnership to enable TV viewers in the US to interact with one of television’s biggest events: the London Olympics, spanning NBC, NBC Sports Network, MSNBC, Bravo and CNBC. Viewers who tag the broadcast from their Shazam app will be able to see additional information on the athletes, engage in polls, view the competition schedule, check the latest results, keep tabs on the medal count and share on social media.

Shazam has yet to announce its participation with Olympics advertisers. If the Super Bowl was any indication — Shazam worked with over one-third of those advertisers — you’ll be seeing lots of Shazam logos on the screen beginning next month.

“Our collaboration with NBC around the London Games marks an exciting milestone for Shazam for TV,” said Shazam CEO, Andrew Fisher. “As the leader in second-screen interactive television, we’re proud to work with NBC to make their coverage of the London 2012 Summer Olympics an even more engaging and interactive social experience.” Adds NBC Sports’ Rick Cordella, “We are confident their Shazam for TV service will help us ignite even more excitement among viewers watching the Games on the networks of NBCUniversal.”

Shazam will also promote NBC Olympics’ apps for video coverage and a more in-depth interactive experience. The partnership spans programming between the The Opening Ceremony on July 27 through the Closing Ceremony on August 12.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

]]> Cory Bergman http://lostremote.com/shazam-partners-up-with-nbc-for-olympics-extras_b31186#disqus_thread http://lostremote.com/shazam-partners-up-with-nbc-for-olympics-extras_b31186 http://www.lostremote.com/?p=31186 Tue, 26 Jun 2012 10:19:48 +0000 It’s always nice to see a social TV integration aimed at a social good. USA and Viggle recently raised funds for Characters Unite, and now E! and Shazam have partnered to “Shazam For A Cause,” an initiative to support the Make-A-Wish Foundation. It’s tied to the new E! show, “Mrs. Eastwood & Company” (below), about the life of Clint Eastwood’s wife, his daughters and the six-person male vocal group from South Africa she manages. We spoke to Annemarie Batur, VP of Marketing & Advertising for E! and David Jones, EVP of Marketing at Shazam.

Batur explained how excited she is to facilitate engagement to, “give as much to Make-A-Wish as possible.” She added that, “we’re always looking for fans to engage and for ways to push content – we give them a bunch of outlets to get info about the show,” Batur told Lost Remote. When we asked why she decided to activate with Shazam for this initiative, she explained that Shazam is, “very recognizable across most of the population,” an asset that many social TV companies still lack. “It’s instant gratification,” she described something Shazam was worked very hard to achieve via faster discovery.

Jones described this first for their platform. “This is the first time viewers of a TV show will see the on-screen call-to-action to ‘Shazam for a Cause,’” he explained. “By simply launching the Shazam App and pressing one button to “tag” the show in just a few seconds, each viewer who does this is directly responsible for $1 being donated to Make-A-Wish by E!”

He added that “E!’s financial contribution to the Make-A-Wish-Foundation, and especially the tireless efforts by all involved in Make-A-Wish, should be center stage.”

With the upfronts coming to an end, we asked him about the role he thought social TV played. “As advertisers and networks make important decisions about next season, it’s important to remember that social TV is changing how people talk about and experience television,” Jones told Lost Remote. “Advertisers are excited, too, since for the first time, Shazam can make their TV ad campaigns interactive – and it couldn’t be easier,” he added. He described how their platform is trying to change the meaning of a commercial. “Shazam is turning 30-second spots into 3 minutes of engagement by consumers in huge numbers – engagement that ranges from more information, samples of a product, special offers, exciting sweepstakes and shopping from the couch – and of course tweeting or commenting about the brand.”

Shazam has a challenging year ahead of them as competition heats up. They’ve definitely seen the most traction among advertisers, and if they can prove ROI, they’ll continue to tap into the billions. This time, Make-A-Wish will benefit.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

]]> Natan Edelsburg http://lostremote.com/e-and-shazam-partner-to-raise-money-for-make-a-wish-foundation_b29597#disqus_thread http://lostremote.com/e-and-shazam-partner-to-raise-money-for-make-a-wish-foundation_b29597 http://www.lostremote.com/?p=29597 Fri, 18 May 2012 12:12:44 +0000 As USA Network announced a ramped up social TV strategy for the summer, its upfront took place at NYC’s Lincoln Center. The event was produced as way more than just an opportunity to announce their new programming. From the red carpet to fan involvement to one of their biggest announcements during the presentation, social TV was part of the production. We spoke with Jesse Redniss, SVP of Digital for USA Network, Jason Hoch, SVP of Digital for WWE and several USA’s “Characters”.

USA has gone above and beyond when it comes to working with partners to help push social TV forward. They even listed GetGlue, Miso, Shazam and Viggle in their upfront advertisement that showed up in AdAge, The New York Times and more. Their Hashtag Killer platform was a huge success and their innovative use of Viggle, Miso and Yap.TV (which has been installed over 125,000 times) has shown they’re deeply invested in trying out new social TV strategies.

Redniss explained that one of the, “big goals we had was to trend worldwide,” a goal they achieved twice with the help of fan-filled red carpet and a massive WWE announcement made via a live tweet. They also invited over 100 of their top fans across their shows to the red carpet and event. We interviewed Redniss in this video after the presentations.

Hoch described the role social played in the announcement that WWE (who recently revamped their website to live on top of social) will be launching #RAWactive. “The big announcement is that Raw is expanding to three hours and it will be more interactive and social than ever before,” he explained. “Really for the first time we will bring our fans into the game and let them be part of the voting, part of the process, using social tools,” he added. He also described how John Cena made this announcement. “We had a surprise – John Cena came out – no one knew about it and he announced it and within minutes it was trending on Twitter, the hashtag #3hourRaw”.

USA’s talent were excited to speak about the importance of social to their careers, their shows and the network.

Peter Gallagher (27,974 followers on Twitter) of Covert Affairs:

I think its remarkable about USA is that they’re really right in the book right now in terms of marketing in this era. The fact is they embrace social media right off the bat, just like the way they do everything else, not in a haphazard way, in a focused and strategic matter, it’s really effective. It’s been interesting because Chris Gorham got me tweeting about a year ago. I’m stunned, I love them [my follwoers]. I love talking to them and it does my heart good. In a way I can’t overstate the importance especially in this era now when so much effort is being made to divide us, to polarize us for reasons of politics or power or money or whatever…we’d much rather all get along and accept the fact that we’re all on this boat together which is what social media does so brilliantly. It’s the present it’s the future and I think it could be our salvation.

Dulé Hill (110,954 followers on Twitter) of Psych:

I talk to the fans everyday. It’s a part of my lifestyle. I actually get my morning news through Twitter now. I’ve been on it for about a year. We get instant feedback, when the episode airs I get a chance to interact with the fans right away and tell me what they like and don’t like about the show. I’ve done Character Chatter a couple of time and will do some more – really whatever they ask me to do. I was very reluctant to get into social media – I was a little skeptical at first. Once I got into I love it. It’s like Al Pacino, when you try to get out he keeps pulling you back in. You can’t leave social media once you get there. I enjoy interacting with folks who I don’t know, from all over the world. That’s what I enjoy the most…on Twitter over time you just get to know different handles and what’s going on with them and things like that…Out of seasons their are long gaps between off the air on the air – any time we can do something involving social media to keep the audience engaged and even build the audience is great. There are different folks who like playing these role playing games [Hashtag Killer] that may not be aware of the show. The more you can do that the better. It gives our fans something to look forward to. That’s why I like to tweet them from them set.

Warren Cole (42 connections on LinkedIn) from new series Common Law:

I think social media is affecting television in that it’s integrated into entertainment already. It’s part of television, it’s part of movies. There’s an immediate response to anything now because of social media and that’s the same for entertainment. you’re not going to be able to get away with much because you’re going to get the criticisms, the voice of the people, just like in politics how social media’s affecting that. It’s democratic. [USA Network] They’re very aware of it, of how important social media. I get a lot of pressure to be a part of social media and I understand why – because it is so integrated, I just need to catch up a little bit…now it’s like say what you gotta say whenever you want to say it and I rarely feel like I have something important to announce to enough people.

Ryan Johnson (1,410 followers on Twitter) of Fairly Legal:

I’m on a show called Fairly Legal, I play the new character Ben and if you’ve seen any of the social media on Fairly Legal, my character came along to divide the crowd and he certainly did that. I’m on Twitter – it’s like a direct kind of way for communicating with people watching the show. As people are watching it they’ll be chatting to us about how they’re thinking and feeling about the way things are going with the story line, stuff like that. It gives us great feedback on what people like and also what they don’t like. It’s awesome in that regard… in the old days it would take a long time to find out what people thought about the show, now were finding out in the moment. Tomrorow night I’m doing a thing called Character Chatter on USA so fans can be watching the show and they can chat away about what they love and hate about Ben Grogan.

Michael Trucco (7,618 followers on Twitter) of Fairly Legal:

I’m terrible at it actually. I screw up all the time. Baron Vaghn tweeted something. I responded to him saying, WTF, where are you, we’re all at dinner, the whole cast is here, come join us. Randomly, some gril says, oh my god, I know this wasn’t for me, but oh my god I feel like I can join you for dinner. She was somewhow, she got caught in the Twitter train that I responded to. I thought I was talking to Baron, I invited someone I never met in my life to come have dinner with us. She was here today with the fans… Baron Vaughn is my tutor in these matters.

@barvonblaq @rutabega80 @virginiawms @onlysarahshahi @realsandrahess @ryanjohnsonofoz @tamara_asmar WTF? Where are you? Come join us!

– Michael Trucco (@originaltrucco) May 17, 2012

The USA Network control room for the very social upfront.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

]]> Natan Edelsburg http://lostremote.com/usa-network-trends-worldwide-during-upfront_b29582#disqus_thread http://lostremote.com/usa-network-trends-worldwide-during-upfront_b29582 http://www.lostremote.com/?p=29582 Fri, 18 May 2012 07:56:37 +0000 In its first partnership with a Spanish-language broadcaster, Shazam said it will be enabling viewers of Thursday night’s Billboard Latino Music Awards on Telemundo to tag the event for expanded content. Viewers can learn more about their favorite artists walking the red carpet, find links to videos and photos, and buy music directly through the Shazam app.

The event follows Shazam’s recent partnerships with American Idol and the Grammy Awards.

“The Billboard Latin Music Awards mark another major milestone for Shazam’s 200 million fans around the world as we integrate with a major live event on one of the largest Spanish-language broadcasters in the United States,” said Shazam EVP Marketing David Jones in a release. “This is one of Telemundo’s most popular broadcasts, so we are excited that we can make it that much more engaging for Latin music fans.”

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

]]> Cory Bergman http://lostremote.com/shazam-expands-into-spanish-language-tv-with-telemundo-deal_b28196#disqus_thread http://lostremote.com/shazam-expands-into-spanish-language-tv-with-telemundo-deal_b28196 http://www.lostremote.com/?p=28196 Tue, 24 Apr 2012 07:54:34 +0000 The battle over the second screen is heating up in the UK. The content-recognition app Shazam, which has been aggressively expanding into TV, has signed a exclusive deal in the UK with broadcaster ITV. Under the deal, ITV’s sales team can offer advertisers the ability to make their spots “Shazamable” for coupons and other content, undoubtedly for an additional fee.

What’s fascinating about this deal is the exclusivity provision, which is unusual for social TV efforts desperate for scale. But the UK second screen startup Zeebox adds a unique dimension here. Shazam says over 10 million people in the UK have downloaded the Shazam app, while last month Zeebox reported 250,000 downloads and growing fast — at one point, 15,000 new downloads an hour. As we reported earlier this year, Zeebox partnered with Sky TV, which has since been running on-air promos for the Zeebox app. And Zeebox has a click-to-buy feature tied on on-screen commercials.

Enter “Shazam for TV,” which has gained traction in the US, but had yet to break into the UK market. ITV is the largest commercial broadcaster in the UK — over several channels — and it’s “also established one of the leading sales organizations in the world,” points out Shazam’s Andrew Fisher. The exclusivity may motivate ITV’s sales team to pitch Shazam more aggressively. Explains Simon Daglish, Sales Director at ITV, “This exciting and exclusive partnership means that ITV is able to offer customers a real first for UK media and allow brands to innovate their spot campaigns and connect directly with audiences on a large scale.”

In the US, Shazam has been working with broadcasters of all shapes and sizes, especially around big events like the Super Bowl and the Grammys. Zeebox, meanwhile, is planning its US debut sometime this quarter.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

]]> Cory Bergman http://lostremote.com/shazam-signs-exclusive-advertising-partnership-with-itv_b27986#disqus_thread http://lostremote.com/shazam-signs-exclusive-advertising-partnership-with-itv_b27986 http://www.lostremote.com/?p=27986 Thu, 19 Apr 2012 08:14:24 +0000 Fresh off launching a faster version of its app earlier this week, Shazam announced today that it has partnered with American Idol to make the TV shows “Shazamable.” Viewers can now tag the shows with their Shazam apps to see what songs the contestants are performing, click links to buy the songs, get Twitter feeds from insiders, follow the official social media channels, and see video and photos from AmericanIdol.com.

“As we surpass more than 200 million users worldwide, this initiative marks another major achievement for Shazam – American Idol is the first live series following the successful Shazam for TV integration of this year’s Super Bowl and GRAMMY Awards,” said Andrew Fisher, Shazam CEO. “We’re really excited to make another flagship show Shazam-enabled, after the world’s biggest sporting event, the biggest night in music, and now television’s most-watched show.”

Shazam debuted a new “lightning-fast” app version on Tuesday to make it easier for viewers to tag moments on TV. “Literally in as little as one second we can match the content you’re hearing,” explained Shazam’s David Jones. We gave the new app a try and it’s about twice as fast as the old version: some content took 5 seconds to “listen” and identify, others as quickly as a second. Shazam says it adds about 1.5 million new users each week.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

]]> Cory Bergman http://lostremote.com/american-idol-shows-are-now-shazamable-for-extras_b27558#disqus_thread http://lostremote.com/american-idol-shows-are-now-shazamable-for-extras_b27558 http://www.lostremote.com/?p=27558 Thu, 05 Apr 2012 13:58:10 +0000 Anyone who’s unsure that brands are interested in spending on social TV should take a hard look at the work Shazam has executed since launching “Shazam for TV” last year. Next weekend, as many as one-third of the Super Bowl ads will have some Shazamable component, the company says.

“No one else has come close to delivering as many unique campaigns, nor do they have our scale, with more than 175 million people who use Shazam,” said Andrew Fisher, Shazam’s Chief Executive Officer. “Shazam is the leader in second-screen interactive TV, and brands and producers are actively extending their engagement with our proven technology at scale, driving real impact.”

Three recent content partnerships include SyFy, USA and E! in partnership along with the car maker Lexus. Proof that Shazam’s user-base is extremely large and active can be seen by the fact that they were able to bring on the sponsor to, offer, “a chance to win trips for two to each of the three shows’ locations,” according to their release. Fans watching Being Human on SyFy, Psych on USA and The Soup on E! will be able to unlock content that includes, extra scenes, downloadable wall-paper and of course, the ability to share on Facebook and Twitter. Here are details from their release on the new Shazamable shows:

Being Human (Syfy) – The second season of Syfy’s hit original series, which premiered on Monday, January 16th, incorporates Shazam for TV. When people use Shazam while watching the show, they can see exclusive scenes from the next week’s episode, a track list of the songs featured in that night’s episode and wallpaper for their device. Additionally, Lexus is sponsoring a sweepstakes for a chance to win a trip for two to Boston, where the show is set. Being Human’s second season premiere rose 14 percent among Adults 25-54 compared to the season one debut.

Psych (USA) – Fan Favorite PSYCH returns to complete its winter season on Leap Day, February 29 at 10/9c, with this episode plus March 7, both Shazam-enabled, letting people watch show bloopers, browse a photo gallery of stars James Roday and Dulé Hill, and download wallpaper. They can also shop for merchandise featured on the show. A chance to win a trip for two to the show’s setting of Santa Barbara will be the Lexus feature sweepstakes for this program. In 2011, PSYCH delivered more P18-49 (2.31 million) and P18-34 (1.22 million) Live+7 viewers than ever before in its five year run.

The Soup (E!) – Shazam-enabled episodes on February 29 and March 7 at 10 p.m. EST and PST will give people links to exclusive clips from The Soup. When people use Shazam to tag the show, they can enter for a chance to win a trip for two to Los Angeles where they will go to a taping of The Soup, sponsored by Lexus.

Shazam’s strategy for TV has not been to try and instantly make everything on linear Shazamable. From years of letting users discover music, they know how frustrating it could be when your app can’t understand what’s playing. Instead of instantly trying to make everything on TV Shazamable, they’re strategically rolling out partnerships. Our big advice is to constantly remember that Shazam is know for music discovery. Music is a big part of TV and a big incentive to dabble in non-music related Shazamable content would be to include and promote music-related content as part of it.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

]]> Natan Edelsburg http://lostremote.com/shazam-to-power-up-to-third-of-super-bowl-ads_b25499#disqus_thread http://lostremote.com/shazam-to-power-up-to-third-of-super-bowl-ads_b25499 http://www.lostremote.com/?p=25499 Sun, 29 Jan 2012 16:44:53 +0000 Shazam for TV continues its efforts to change traditional TV spot buying by launching their first campaign for a movie. The company has announced that they’d be working with 20th Century Fox to launch their first movie promotions campaign for Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked. The campaign will run through the end of December, and the film opens on the 16th of the month. The promotion will involve giving the following exclusive content during promos on TV for the movie:

• A limited-time free download of the film’s hit single, “Vacation,” performed by Alvin and the Chipmunks
• An extended Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked trailer
• Additional clips from the movie
• A link to buy the first two Alvin and the Chipmunk movies on Blu-ray or DVD from Amazon.com
• A link to purchase tickets to Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked

Shazam continues to expand their client list. In November they announced a partnership with freecreditscore.com to help the company leverage Shazam’s network. According to the company they have 165 million users.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

]]> Natan Edelsburg http://lostremote.com/shazam-for-tv-launches-first-campaign-for-a-movie_b24002#disqus_thread http://lostremote.com/shazam-for-tv-launches-first-campaign-for-a-movie_b24002 http://www.lostremote.com/?p=24002 Mon, 05 Dec 2011 11:17:21 +0000