Shazam Names McGurn New CRO

On the heels of a $40 million investment, Shazam has named Kevin McGurn as its new chief revenue officer. Effective immediately, McGurn’s mission will be to accelerate Shazam’s revenue growth by driving global TV and mobile ad sales along with new partnerships, he told Online Media Daily.

“It’s an exciting opportunity for me, personally,” McGurn said on Tuesday.

McGurn is coming over from Hulu, where he served as SVP of advertising sales for more than six years. To form strategic partnerships, McGurn said he will be eying music labels, OEMs, platforms, carriers, broadcasters and big brands.

Rising to popularity as a mobile app for identifying music and linking users to purchase opportunities, Shazam has more recently focused on creating second-screen experiences to coincide with on-air TV programming and advertising.

This summer, Shazam said its user base had expanded to 350 million people, about 70 million of whom it said were monthly active users. McGurn’s hiring is part of a larger effort by Shazam to recruit top talent and expand its offices and operations.

In New York, Shazam recently leased an entire floor at 52 Vanderbilt Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, and plans to roughly double the size of its New York operations. In London, Shazam has expanded its Hammersmith offices, taking an additional floor in anticipation of doubling London-based staff in the coming months. Earlier this year, Shazam’s team in Los Angeles moved to new offices in Brentwood, and presently expects to see 50% growth in personnel by the end of the year.

The expansion would not have been possible without the $40 million that Telecom carrier America Movil made in Shazam in July.

Previously, McGurn also led the national advertising and media business at the National Broadband Company -- an NBC Universal venture marketplace for digital video syndication.


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