Music recognition app Shazam says it will apply greater focus to advertising to enable brands a better chance at launching promotional efforts on its platform.
The app now features a suite of tools called “Shazam for Brands”, providing advertisers with analytics to identify the next big hit and measure the effectiveness of their messages through analysis of behavioural patterns.
They will also be able to use “beacons and audio watermarking” during live events and the app will provide opportunities for branded content.
Although no events have been announced, meaning little is known of how the second option will work, brands now have the option of featuring themselves alongside some of the biggest names in music once they’ve been tagged.
Ads driving revenue
In a move to cater for existing advertisers like BMW and Clinique as well as new Shazam investors, the app is finding new ways of monetising its 120 million users.
Greg Glenday, chief revenue officer at Shazam, said: “Advertising has always been secondary, but now we are putting it front and centre. We are taking advertising seriously by adding stock and people.”
The news represents a big step for a company whose advertising strategy used to revolve around selling data to the industry and hosting banners, with just the occasional showing of ads.
“We sold ourselves short with the advertising industry by just selling banner ads and being transactional,” said Glenday.
Things have changed and the new features are opening new doors for Shazam.
Glenday highlights the majority of its total revenue now comes from ads, which he envisages will be the most rapidly growing part of the business.
