Beginning on November 6, X-Factor fans will have another option in which to vote for show contestants. In addition to voting via call, text, the Facebook app, the show’s website and dedicated app, fans will now be able to vote by usingShazam. The partnership between Fox and Shazam will also allow fans to buy music featured during the telecast and provide access to other original content. To talk more about how the partnership with Fox came about, we talked with CEO Rich Riley, and EVP of Marketing David Jones, from Shazam.
Lost Remote: How did this partnership come about?
Rich Riley: Shazam has been collaborating with Fox, Syco and Freemantle for quite some time…from promoting new Fox shows and new seasons and episodes of popular Fox TV shows to Shazam’s massive user base of entertainment-loving fans, to creating custom “second-screen” experiences in the Shazam App for 2 seasons of American Idol and now 2 seasons of X-Factor, since so many music fans are Shazaming these shows anyway for the music. These relationships have advanced nicely to this next milestone — SuperVoting via the Shazam App. With over 105 million users in the US of the Shazam App, all of them music fans wanting more information about music everywhere and music-related TV shows, it’s a natural to extend SuperVoting to such a broad and mainstream media engagement platform that is Shazam.
LR: How does Shazam feel about being the first third-party app to be part of the voting?
David Jones: As you can imagine, we are incredibly excited that Shazam is the first third-party app to be integrated with the show, particularly to vote. It’s a testament to Shazam’s strength in music as well as its unparalleled reach that X-Factor chose to partner with us.
LR: Was the API integration difficult?
Jones: It was a smooth implementation and FOX was a great partner to work with to create a good experience for people who Shazam the show.