Audio recognition app company Shazam announced a partnership with cinema advertising company Screenvision, intended to enable users to interact with the ads shown before films.

Targeting the US market, the partnership “will enable consumers to engage with many of the ads that they see before a move – allowing them to receive special offers, enter sweepstakes and bring home and share more information about the products and services that pique their interest”.

Screenvision also said it will air 15-second reminders “to alert moviegoers to pull out their phones and be ready to use the Shazam app”.

John McCauly, SVP of strategic alliances at Screenvision, said: “With our national cinema network reaching nearly 40 million moviegoers monthly and Shazam’s 90 million and growing US user base, advertisers have the ultimate platform to reach the mass market and to get them to act on their message.”

Shazam has been boosting its position as a media companion app in the US, where it allows users to tag the television shows they are watching, as well as offering Shazam-enabled advertising.

The company’s Shazam for TV advertising proposition is also available internationally, with it stating earlier this year that more than 200 campaigns had been delivered “in a dozen countries in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific”.

Earlier this year, David Jones, EVP of marketing for the company, told Mobile World Live: “We have two major lines of business now. While music is still a core part of our DNA and really important to us, TV is a brand new area, it’s a new use case. We’re not just music discovery any more, we’re media engagement.”