American Idol is giving viewers a way to interact with the show as they are watching via a new partnership with Shazam.

Fans of the show will be use the Shazam application during the show to access a song list with links so viewers can purchase the music for all the performers. Other American Idol content available via the app includes links to the Twitter feeds of people working on the show and other fans, links to official social media channels as well as videos and photos from the show.

?Eighty-seven percent of television viewers with smartphones use them while watching TV ? so people are multitasking,? said David Jones, executive vice president of marketing at Shazam, London.

?By creating an engaging second-screen experience for American Idol, people using Shazam have an opportunity to engage more deeply in American Idol and actually extend the time viewers are involved with the programming,? he said.

?This should turn more viewers into fans, more fans into ?super fans? and drive more conversations about the show, both online and offline.?

The live experience
American Idol is one of the first live series to offer a second-screen experience via the Shazam app.

Earlier this year, the Super Bowl, the ESPN Winter X Games and the Grammy Awards all gave viewers a way to interact with the live events via a Shazam integration.

Enabling people to use Shazam with live television broadcasts is a natural extension to the experience, which already lets users interact with some of their favorite scripted programs.

When users launch Shazam while watching TV, the app uses audio content recognition technology to quickly determine what the user is watching and automatically takes them to the second-screen experience for that show.

?We have learned from the Super Bowl, the Grammy Awards and other shows and events that live television events are terrific for showcasing what Shazam's technology and product experience can bring to people,? Mr. Jones said.

Shazam has over 200 million users worldwide and over 65 million in the United States.

Music connection
American Idol will be Shazam-enabled through the rest of the season, which comes to a close with a two-night grand finale on May 22 and 23.

The Shazam app can be downloaded from the Apple App Store, Google Play, Amazon App Store and GetJar.

The ability to click on links for the music being performed live on the show in order to buy it makes sense for American Idol with several of its performers having gone on to have professional music careers.

?Shazam has been driving digital music downloads for years,? Mr. Jones. ?In fact, eight percent of all tags for music ? and we get 7 million of them every day ? convert to a purchase.

?So, we know that enabling people to buy the songs from their favorite contestants and the original artists will be a popular feature of this experience,? he said. ?And, of course fans love easy access all in one place to photos, videos, tweets from insiders and everyone and social features.?