Exclusive partnership deal between US-based Screenvision and Shazam creates interactive cinema advertising platform
Cinema advertising leader Screenvision has announced an exclusive partnership with London-based media engagement company Shazam which will enable movie-goers to engage with pre-film adverts on the big screen.
Deal: An exclusive partnership has been announced
The combination of the cinema screens and Shazam's mobile technology will provide a new platform of interaction for advertisers, who can encourage users with special offers and sweepstakes. Shazam technology became popular for identifying pieces of music by creating an acoustic fingerprint based on audio fed to it and matching to a central database. The service could then provide relevant links to enquiring users to online music stores.
John McCauley, Screenvision's senior vice president, strategic alliances, said: "By working with Shazam, Screenvision now has an unparalleled scale to reach our moviegoing audience, who tends to be tech savvy and armed with smartphones, with a predisposition for connecting and sharing the interesting things they discover.
"With our national cinema network reaching nearly 40 million movie-goers monthly and Shazam's 90 million and growing US user base, advertisers have the ultimate platform to reach the mass market and to get the to act on their message."
The cinema advertising programme will be available throughout Screenvision's US network, featuring 15-second reminders to customers during pre-show entertainment to get their smartphones and Shazam apps ready.
"Movie-goers are drawn to the cinema to see the world's greatest content and their affinity for the experience of going to the movies puts them in a highly receptive mindset for advertising messaged," McCauley added.
"This delivers unrivalled results, including a 56 per cent ad recall and 10:1 ad likeability compared to ads on TV. And now, that the very point that the awareness is created, we can connect movie-goers through a Shazam-enable experience.
"This not only gives them a greater opportunity to connect with the brands and products they love, but the ability to take that message home and share it with their friends, right from the comfort of their theatre seat."
The partnership was announced at Screenvision's Upfront presentation to the advertising industry in New York on Wednesday.