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NBCUniversal’s Bravo, Oxygen and Syfy are adding tie-ins with mobile music recognition service Shazam to their schedules over the next couple of months.
Women’s cablenet Bravo is first up. The channel’s new songwriting competition show Platinum Hit, from True Entertainment, will feature three moments when viewers who have downloaded the Shazam mobile app will be able to use it to access exclusive content.
The programme, hosted by singer-songwriter Jewel, is due to debut on May 30 at 22.00 and is also being supported by additional content on iTunes, Amazon and Bravo’s own iPhone and iPad app.
Shazam, a UK-based company whose technology allows users to identify music, is trying to apply the same tools to television, and ran its first trials in this space with Syfy last year. It’s partnering with the network again for Alphas, a drama series about a team of people with superpowers beginning July 11. Again, viewers who tap the Shazam app while watching will gain access to exclusive content.
The same principle will be at work during Oxygen’s new show The Glee Project, which launches June 12, giving contestants the opportunity to win a role on the hit Fox show.
The deal marks steady progress for Shazam, which claims some 125 million users but the company is up against competition from a California-based start-up called IntoNow, which Yahoo! recently snapped up for US$30m only three months after it launched.
In related news, Bravo has commissioned World of Wonder and Arthouse Entertainment, to make another songwriter-themed series – this one in the reality genre and following the live of multi-platinum selling songwriter Kara DioGuardi. The show, dubbed Kara (wt), will look to build on from Platinum Hits.
