Will Shazam's ACR technology leave cable's ExpandTV platform in the dust?

By the end of next month's Super Bowl broadcast on NBC, TV viewers will be very familiar with Shazam, a London-based company that has developed automatic content recognition (ACR) apps for mobile phones and tablets.

Shazam, which initially focused on using its app to help mobile phone users identify songs, has expanded into TV programming and advertising. In the last year it's cut deals with media buyers that have used its app to add interactivity to more than 50 ad campaigns, including General Mills (Nasdaq: GIS), which ran ads for its Pillsbury brand in December that allowed viewers to receive links to recipes and videos sent to their mobile phones.

Up to one-third of ads that will run during the Super Bowl will feature Shazam icons that will extend the life of the spots, allowing viewers that see the icon during an ad to use the app to "tag" the  spot to access related content during and after the game. While Shazam hasn't yet revealed which commercials will be "Shazamable," likely candidates include Proctor and Gamble (NYSE: PG), Unilever, Sony Pictures and Bud Light, which have already used Shazam to add interactivity to their ads.

For more than a decade, cable operators have been attempting to add interactivity to TV ads, hoping to strike deals with media buyers that allow subscribers that respond to overlays running on the bottom of a TV screen to request additional information about the product featured in a commercial. Cablevision (NYSE: CVC) has even used interactive TV advertising to let subscribers request free samples of products from advertisers such as Gillette and Unilever.

Through its Canoe Ventures interactive TV consortium, Comcast (Nasdaq: CMCSA), Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC), Charter Communications (Nasdaq: CHTR) and other major cable MSOs have also been pushing cable networks and advertisers to use the industry's EBIF platform to add interactivity to advertising. They want networks to use ExpandTV as a brand for interactivity, and allow viewers that see an ExpandTV icon on the screen during a commercial to press the select button on their remotes to receive more information from an advertiser.

While up to one-third of the commercials running during the Super Bowl will feature Shazam icons, none of the ads will use ExpandTV to let viewers dig deeper into the products featured during the big game. Considering the Super Bowl will air this year on NBC, the broadcast network owned by the nation's largest cable MSO Comcast, it seems like a missed opportunity to showcase the capability of cable's interactive advertising platform.

Comcast has worked to upgrade its cable systems to support EBIF, but the company is also using ACR technology to deliver interactive advertising. In November, Comcast's NBCUniversal division announced an agreement with Shazam and t-commerce technology vendor Delivery Agent that will allow viewers of NBCU programs such as USA Networks' Covert Affairs to buy merchandise related to the shows through Android phones and tablets and Apple's (Nasdaq: AAPL) iPad and iPhone.

Shazam will allow Super Bowl viewers to view commercials during the game in a new way, but it's not as easy as using a cable remote control. Viewers need to have the app installed on a phone or tablet, and have the app running during the game in order to have interactive content delivered to their phones.

Many advertisers are eager to use interactivity to increase the value of their media buy, as Shazam is demonstrating with its Super Bowl ads. But it's up to cable players such as Comcast and NBCUniversal to show media buyers how using cable's interactive platform through ExpandTV ads could be more effective than making viewers use a mobile phone or tablet to receive interactive advertising. Maybe we'll see Comcast and NBCUniversal use the Summer Olympics in London as a showcase for interactive advertising. If not, we're sure Shazam will fill the void.--Steve