America Movil invests $40m in Shazam

Latin American operator group America Movil has invested $40m in music recognition and marketplace app Shazam. The move strengthens Shazam’s presence in Latin America, according to the app maker, as it looks to grow its similartelevision offering and develop new products.

“Shazam is defining a new category of media engagement which combines the power of mobile with traditional broadcast media and advertising to create compelling value added experiences for consumers, content providers and brands,” said America Movil chairman and CEO Carlos Slim.

In the last year, Shazam has updated the design and claims to have increased the speed of its app for iOS and Android. It launched an iPad app earlier this month with a new feature, Auto-Tagging, which helps the user recognise and engage with any media playing around them, automatically.

The comapny also launched its Shazam for TV service in the US, enabling viewers to use the same Shazam App already on their mobile device on any television show on 160 channels in the US to get more information about the show, the cast and music in the broadcast.

“Shazam’s expansion into television has moved the company into an entirely new phase of growth with interactive advertising generating new sources of revenue and partnerships with broadcasters encouraging a broader group of people to use Shazam more frequently,” said Shazam CEO Rich Riley.

Shazam said it has a user base of 350 million people worldwide with 70 million active users. It added that it sees more than two million new users each week. Moreover, the company’s sales of digital goods are now worth over $300m a year through affiliate partners like iTunes, a figure that is doubling annually.