Shazam®, the world’s leading media engagement company, today revealed the results of a recent case study conducted by Frank N. Magid Associates to measure the efficacy of Shazam-enabled TV advertising. The findings were a compelling endorsement of Shazam for TV advertising, where Shazam’s custom second-screen interactive experience engages viewers and improve brand recall:

• People who used Shazam to tag an ad are three times as likely to interact with the brand through desirable follow-up actions after seeing the commercial vs. people who did not use Shazam.
• People who used Shazam were more than twice as likely to talk about the brand or the ad with others.
• 55% of people who tagged the ad cited that one of the reasons they did so was to bookmark it to go back and reference information on the brand or product later in addition to their immediate post-viewing engagement. For people who were in the market for that product, that number jumps to 65%.
• People who used Shazam had a higher recall of the commercial and its message vs. people who did not use Shazam.

“Since the launch of Shazam for TV advertising in 2011, we have seen people use the app to dramatically shift how they consume advertising,” said Shazam’s EVP Advertising, Evan Krauss. “In every industry vertical, from auto to finance to retail, we have seen mobile engagement using the second screen extend people’s interactions with the brand or product from a 30-second ad to several minutes of engagement. This new study validates this, adds to our understanding about significant lift in brand and campaign effectiveness, and tells us what we always suspected – that people use Shazam to ‘bookmark’ the information so they can also go back and continue to engage with the information at a later time.”

“Shazam has clearly taken its great brand in the music discovery space and successfully extended it into television with the Shazam for TV service,” said Mike Vorhaus, President, Magid Advisors. “Shazam-enabled ads are both effective for brands as well as valued by consumers, making this an excellent new method of engagement. The extended time that people are willing to engage with the brands and their products demonstrate that consumers have embraced using the second screen and that Shazam’s work with agencies is setting the standard for the industry.”

Details of the major findings are:

Brand interaction – 68% of people who tagged the ad went on to further engage with the brand, compared to the 23% for those who did not tag the commercial. The interactions included checking out offers, visiting the company’s website or Facebook page, liking or following the company, getting a price quote, or locating a local retailer. In each of these activities, Shazam tagging resulted in between three to four times the amount of activity.

Word of Mouth / Social Activity – 55% of people who tagged the ad talked about the brand with others, compared to the 25% for those who did not tag the commercial. People who used Shazam were more than twice as likely to talk about the brand or the ad with others, and for those in market for the product, 65% of people who tagged the ad talked about the brand with others. These sought-after social activities included talking about the brand with someone: in person, on the phone, via a social networking site, in an email or another way.

Bookmarking for later use – 55% of the people who used Shazam to tag the ad cited that one of the reasons they did so was to save it for later. A popular use case that Shazam is known for is going back to your tag list to interact with content of interest at a later time. This behaviour translates well from music discovery to TV advertising, with 55% of the people who Shazam’d the ad using it as a bookmark so that they could interact with it in their own time. The vast majority of those bookmarking did so in addition to engaging with or talking about the brand. Of those who bookmarked, 79% took some immediate action with the brand, and bookmarked it for later; 65% talked about the brand, and bookmarked it for later.

Future Intent – Shazam tagging lifts future intent across the board, with increases ranging from 60% to 135%. One of the most important measures of success for any ad is whether it motivated or persuaded consumers to take future actions about the brand or product. With an average 17 percentage point advantage, people who used Shazam to tag the ad said they were more inclined to do a variety of activities, from visiting the brand’s website, to getting additional information, to checking out the product and visiting their local retailer.

Brand Affinity – 71% of people who tagged the commercial liked the brand, compared to the 61% for those who did not tag the commercial. For this particular ad campaign, Shazam measured five different key aspects of the product from tangible physical aspects to intangible value-related characteristics. Across the board, people who used Shazam rated every facet an average of six percentage points higher than the people who did not. Similarly, 59% of people who tagged the ad liked the brand’s commercial, compared to the 38% for those who did not tag the commercial. And people who tagged the commercial feel more positive about the commercial and its brand impact than those who did not tag the commercial – 43% feel better about the brand vs 26% for those who did not tag the commercial.

Recall – 100% of people who tagged the ad recalled the ad, compared to 65% recall for those who did not tag the ad. While 98% of those who tagged could recall the brand’s ad message, 95% of those who did not tag but remembered the ad could recall the brand message.

Lack of Confusion – Almost all Shazam users, regardless of whether or not they tagged the brand’s commercial, do not experience any confusion or distraction when seeing the Shazam on-screen graphic in the commercial. 96% were not confused, and 92% were not distracted.

The study, commissioned by Shazam, was conducted by Frank M. Magid Associates over the course of three weeks and recruited participants to watch a primetime TV show live – in natural viewing conditions in their own homes – during which the brand’s commercial aired. After viewing the TV show, Shazam users were asked to complete a follow up survey based on their recall of the brand’s TV commercial. Surveys were completed by 439 Shazam users who tagged the TV commercial and 431 people did not tag the commercial. All respondents were: 18 years or older, based in the US, smartphone users (iPhone or Android), and able to access live TV at home including broadcast networks ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX or CW.

Recently, Shazam announced that it has expanded its Shazam for TV second-screen service in the U.S. to support TV programming on any channel, anytime of day, making Shazam a “TV companion app.” The core service, presented by Samsung Galaxy S III through December 2012, gives viewers in the U.S. access to cast details and photos, music in the show, celebrity gossip, trivia, celebrity tweets, and links to additional information, plus the ability to instantly share and comment on the show or episode on Facebook and Twitter. Shazam will continue to work in partnership with show creators and broadcasters to create custom second-screen interactive experiences.

For people who don't yet have the Shazam application on their smartphone, it is available for free on every major platform and can be found on iTunes App Store, Google play, Amazon App Store, AT&T’s AppCenter, Verizon VCast app store, Nokia Store, Windows Phone Marketplace, BlackBerry App World, and GetJar.

About Shazam

Shazam is the world’s leading media engagement company with more than 250 million people in 200 countries and adding another 2 million new users each week. With the industry’s unlimited fastest tagging in the Free and premium Encore Apps on iOS and Android devices, Shazam is the best way for people to discover, explore, buy, and share more music, TV shows and branded content they love.

For further information about Shazam Entertainment visit www.shazam.com and @ShazamNews or follow us on Facebook. For daily music updates follow the Shazam Blog and @Shazam.

Shazam Media enquiries: PR@shazamteam.com

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