Fox television network has announced the inception of a brand new game show, set to emerge sometime in the near future. In the wake of the long-standing reality game show, American Idol, finally coming to a close, the network has decided to expand its music-based programming with a series that tackles an entirely new facet of the industry: song recognition app Shazam.
Beat Shazam, as it’s expected to be called, will give contestants the opportunity to guess a song as it’s being played, much in the same way the app identifies audio material. If they do so correctly, they’ll have to go up against the app itself for the top prize. Shazam Entertainment and Jeff Apploff of Don’t Forget The Lyrics will be producing the show.
Despite Fox’s attempt to fill the void left behind by American Idol‘s absence, the concept behind Beat Shazam seems like little more than a massive marketing play. With the company’s name, image, and presence so deeply incorporated into the fabric of the show, it’s difficult to assume that the program was created without any intention of selling direct and heavy promotion to the song recognition app.
Source: Billboard