For some time now there has been word that Crackle now Sony Crackle was struggling. Recently Sony shut down the Canadian version of Sony Crackle in favor of partnering up with Bell Media’s new Canadian streaming service vs going at it alone. Now it looks like Sony is looking for a partner for their US version of Sony Crackle.
In a memo obtained by The Hollywood Reporter, Sony’s new chairman of Sony Picture says
Hello everyone,
I have some news to share. As we build and grow our direct-to-consumer businesses, I want to make you all aware that we have begun theprocess of exploring potential partnerships for Sony Crackle to drive scale and position the streaming network to be more competitive.
Crackle is a tremendously valuable asset for us, and with premium AVOD getting more and more traction as advertisers seek high value online advertising opportunities, we feel there is room for greater growth for our OTT business. With the right partner – one that could bring additional content or users or leverage existing assets for advertising and promotion – we feel we can expandCrackle’s audience and significantly increase revenue.
In the meantime, a small group is working on the potential partnership so that the rest of our teams can operate business as usual, focusing on their day-to-day work and commitments to help ensure Crackle remains the premiere AVOD platform.
Mike
This is not the first time Sony has looked at selling off part or all of Sony Crackle. Over the last few years, there have been reports of talks to sell off all or part of Sony Crackle to several possible buyers. So far though none of the talks have come close to a possible sale. Now it looks like once again Sony is looking at what to do with their free ad-supported streaming service.
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