NEW YORK� iHeartMedia, Cumulus, Entercom, Cox and Sun Broadcast Group will partner with music identification app Shazam to implement a new audio audience measurement solution. This collaboration �will deliver market- and station-level audience metrics across all radio formats,� according to a press release.
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Shazam Entertainment Limited was founded in 1999. The app uses a smartphone or computer’s built-in microphone to gather a sample of audio being played and then compares it against a central database for a match. If it finds a match, it sends information such as the artist, song title, and album back to the user.
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�We are pleased to be working with Shazam and the industry in support of an alternative audience measurement tool that will provide more robust information on the hundreds of millions of local radio listeners,� Entercom President and CEO David Field said in the announcement.
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According to the release, the new measurement solution provides cross-platform audience metrics by utilizing �innovative audio recognition technology� and �information from specific geographic markets� as well as information collected from millions of mobile devices, the companies say.�
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�The richness of our data, combined with Shazam�s measurement capabilities, will enable much deeper insights than traditional audio measurement does, and we believe it�s a necessary and valuable addition to the evolving multi-platform audio measurement marketplace,��said iHeartMedia President of Research and Insights Radha Subramanyam.�
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Also, Cumulus Media Chief Insights Officer Pierre Bouvard noted, �Clients are demanding more insights and targeting capabilities from media companies, and radio needs to offer what has become basic table stakes. Shazam can help us deliver on these expectations.�
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