Shazam has launched a new TV advertising metric to let marketers assess the effectiveness of television advertising campaigns.

The Shazam Engagement Rate tool is available exclusively to the company?s TV advertisers. To measure the effectiveness, Shazam is combining third-party industry data on the number of people viewing a particular ad with the number of people who engaged with that same.

?By showing brands where they are seeing actual engagement ? not just viewers, but people who are leaning in and asking for more information ? Shazam is able to provide an entirely new service to advertisers:  measurement and accountability on how effectively an ad campaign connects with the audience,? said David Jones, executive vice president of marketing at Shazam, London.

?Shazam can help brand marketers measure the impact of their ad campaigns using powerful data-driven insights never before available, making it possible for companies to optimize their ad spend,? he said.

Driving viewership
According to Shazam, combining the two data points reveals which ads are resonating more or less with viewers.

Insights are available by show, type of program, channel, day of week and day-part mix.

The Shazam Engagement Rate is defined as Shazam tag volume for each spot that airs divided by the gross rating point for each of those airings, per the company.

Shazam is licensing the GRP viewership information from Nielsen.

?Shazam has worked with more than 250 campaigns for 150 global A-list brands across every industry vertical to make their ad campaigns interactive,? Mr. Jones said. ?This new metric helps our advertising partners understand where and when their audience is most responsive to their ads so that they can adjust their strategies accordingly. 

?We believe that the powerful data-driven insights that we will provide will significantly change and enhance how advertising effectiveness is measured,? he said. ?Brands and agencies now have another great reason to Shazam-enable their campaigns.?

Mobile ambitions
Shazam has been revving up its mobile strategy for a long time now.

In fact, the company exceeded a quarter of a billion users last year.

And, by expanding its Shazam for TV service, the company is now letting fans use the app as a TV companion app with any TV show in the United States (see story).

?As one of the most downloaded mobile apps of all time, Shazam is one of the most successful mobile-only businesses, with more than 325 million users worldwide, growing by 10 million new users each month,? Mr. Jones said. 

?And, as mobile growth continues to outpace that of computers, it?s becoming increasingly important that all businesses think about how they leverage the reach that mobile gives them,? he said.

?Shazam makes it easy for brands to integrate mobile interactivity into their television ad campaigns to continue and complement brands? 30-second spots into several minutes of engagement on the second screen ? smartphones, iPads and tablets.?

Final Take
Rimma Kats is associate editor on Mobile Commerce Daily, New York