When the iPhone 3g came out, one of the most impressive apps was Shazam. Through some techno-magic, the app could identify a nearby song. This, was a big deal for me because I’ve always been terrible at knowing names and understanding lyrics. My most egregious sin, according to my wife’s family was mistaking Elvira for ‘hell-fire-up’.
Besides this mistake, my wife has only one other problem with me, interrupting television shows to ask questions. With different chronotypes, she will watch one more episode which after two weeks means she’s a season ahead.
Here the pitch: Shazam but for television shows. A person opens the app and the service detects which show is on in the room. Then it pulls up a synopsis of the plot, who the characters are, and where they’ve been. Like the recap shows run. After a skim, the second person can join in and know what the hell is going on.
The potential monetization is large. Like Roku or Amazon, the app can earn affiliate fees as people pay to sign up for other services. Showzam can also earn advertising dollars with dynamic advertising and with data collection on searches, see what is popular and monetize that information in a variety of ways.
Whether Showzam would work like Shazam I have no idea and it seems like a much more difficult technology problem. However, there’s a need and JTBD .
The Waiter's Pad 