• by Erik Sass  @eriksass1, May 13, 2014

The Screenvision-SoundHound partnership will enable advertisers to target moviegoers with mobile ads in conjunction with Screenvision’s advertising and entertainment programming on the big screen. SoundHound’s technology uses audio recognition to enable mobile users to register audio to their mobile device to pull up content from the Web.

Thus Warner Bros.’ first promotion with Screenvision and SoundHound will invite moviegoers to use their mobile devices to interact with a music video by singing-songwriting duo Nico and Vinz during the Screenvision Front & Center preshow program, which in turn will enable them to pull up the song on Spotify and see the lyrics on their mobile devices live.

SoundHound's technology will also be employed in conjunction with other types of Screenvision Front & Center preshow, and will be promoted through prompts incorporated into ad units as well as standalone interstitial messages reminding moviegoers about the SoundHound integration.

This is just the latest in a series of new mobile integrations using audio recognition technology by Screenvision and its former competitor National CineMedia, including NCM’s CinemaSync app and Screenvision’s partnership with Shazam. New mobile partnerships, including more employing audio recognition technology, are likely to be forthcoming over the next year. Like other out-of-home advertisers, the cinema ad networks are increasingly turning to mobile to measure and demonstrate exposure and engagement with cinema ads.

Last week National CineMedia revealed that it is acquiring Screenvision for $375 million. The combined NCM-Screenvision network will include theater affiliates in nearly all 210 DMAs across the U.S., consisting of 3,900 theaters with over 34,000 screens, and a total annual audience of 1.1 billion moviegoers.