Shazam and Syfy: The First Tagable Tv Show

Back in December I posted about Shazam's intention to invade the living room and produce tagable TV content. In a press release posted on their site 4 days ago, Shazam announced that they have teamed up with Syfy's Being Human to produce the first tagable TV show. Tagging the show gives viewers links to exclusive video and previews of upcoming episodes, access to exclusive playlists from the series, downloads and the chance to enter the ‘Being Human Shazam Sweepstakes’ at Syfy.com.

This project is a very definite sign of the TV beginning to use "the second screen" i.e tablet computers and smartphones, to make the formally passive exercise of TV an interactive one. Back in November I posted about the future of TV and how 2011 will / may be the year that the TV and internet merge and it seems, for now anyway, that it may be true.

Shazam On Your TV

The popular smartphone app Shazam has targeted the living room as the next line of attack for their music recognition software. If you haven't heard, used or cared about Shazam, it's an amazing piece of technology that can recognise pretty much any song from a 30 second clip, find that song for you on iTunes and social media sites, and let you purchase or listen to it right there.

With 100m users it seems only natural that the technology should integrate into your TV allowing advertisers to use sound recognition to send you info on a product, extend the narrative of the advertising, or download a coupon. Shazam will be launching the service in the US of A in February with TV networks and advertisers that include HBO and LYNX.

Very interesting stuff and another piece of technology that will further strengthen the link between the internet and your TV.