Shazam Drives Ratings and Engagement for a Huge CMA Success on ABC

Promoted the Show to 3 Million Shazam Country Music Fans

CMAs Shazamed 500,000 Times, Nearly 300% Increase from 2012 CMAs

New York, NY – November 7, 2013 - Shazam®, the world’s leading media engagement company, announced today how it contributed to driving ratings and engagement for “The 47^th Annual CMA Awards”  last night on the ABC Television Network.  Prior to the show, Shazam used its app to notify 3 million of its country music fans to tune-in to the show.  People Shazamed the show over 500,000 times, and more than 10% of them went on to purchase music by artists featured in the program.

Viewers could Shazam the show to access exclusive content including free track downloads from The Civil Wars and Jason Aldean, a sweepstakes to win a CMA signed guitar, and a Hunter Hayes behind the scenes video.  The Shazam App made it easy to follow the Awards ceremony as it happened, keeping track of nominees and the Awards presented.  Users were also able to engage with the music to see playlists of the top Shazamed Country Music tracks, as well as the top tracks for performers and hosts Carrie Underwood and Brad Paisley, as well as a world premiere of his trailer to his new film, Wheelhouse.

People went directly from Shazam’s CMA Awards experience to iTunes and Amazon approximately 50,000 times during the broadcast to buy the tracks and albums of the nominees, winners, and performers – this does not include the two free tracks available for download. 

“Last night, we saw a new level of engagement for Shazam-enabled awards shows – and a mind-blowing 300% increase on last year’s CMAs – demonstrating the power of the Shazam for TV experience,” said Rich Riley, CEO.  “Shazam helped drive tune-in and engagement of the broadcast, encouraging millions of people to watch and Shazam the CMAs to experience more of the music and the artists they love, spending time in the app to download songs and learn more about their favorite performers.”

”This was an amazing night for Country Music and the fans. The ratings and results show that old stereotypes of Country Music fans no longer apply and that they are hungry for the type of digital experience that Shazam provides,” said Ben Bennett, Directory of Digital Strategy for CMA.

Prior to the broadcast, Shazam leveraged the reach of its new News Feed feature to reach out to more than 3 million iOS and Android users in the U.S. about the CMA Awards. In the future, Shazam’s News Feed will evolve into a place that keeps fans effortlessly informed about the artists, TV shows, and brands they love.