Upfront News and Views: Sony Crackle Snaps Up New Series

Venue amp160The 27th floor screening room of Sonyamp8217s headquarters complex located at the corner of Madison Ave and East 25th Stamp160 Thatamp8217s 26 floors up from a year ago when press gathered at the ground floor space soon to be occupied by Sonyamp8217s Music Experience venture amp160A breakfast spread was available at the outside lobby with Sony Crackle series photos hanging on one side and scenes from classic Sony movies and TV series on the other amp160Grade 35 JacksPresentationamp160 Sony Crackle makes no bones about its status as an adsupported programmer driven by the expanding universe of consumers with smart TV sets and other devicesamp160 General Manager Eric Berger labels them amp8220console usersamp8221 who not only face an era of plentiful TV but amp8220an era of peak everythingamp8221amp160 Result amp160more people are watching the service because of its programming variety and fewer but satisfying commercials amp160amp8220Weamp8217re mindful of the consumersamp8217 ad experienceamp8221 Berger continued amp160amp8220The goal is to connect with that console user base and put that audience firstamp8221amp160 For advertisers less breaks and time inside those breaks add up to a more attractive effective relationship with audiences amp160amp160Grade 35 Jacks Newsamp160 Unscripted original series will be scheduled for the first time produced through Sonyamp8217s Embassy Rowamp160 One will be an eSports competition in association with NRG a video gaming venture whose investors include modernday sports legends Shaquille Oamp8217Neal and Alex Rodriguez amp160The other is a 15episode look at soccer presented during the first two weeks of World Cup 2018 in June one new episode per dayamp160 Another new series will be Rob Riggleamp8217s Ski Master Academy coming in Augustamp160 That will not be the only scripted summer attraction amp160Look for madeforTV movies Office Uprising workplace spoof and Action Figures 2 sequel to the 2015 theatrical releaseamp160 Six scripted series are in development including Heart of Darkness modernization of the iconic Joseph Conrad novel and Limitless Origins prequel to the hit movie and former CBS series amp160Grade 4 JacksHost amp160Berger had a solid command of the talking points and kept the pace moving amp160Also there was easy access for followup questionsamp160 It would be nice to see him more often at TV industry conferences given his other role as Chief Digital Officer at Sony Pictures TV Networks amp160Grade 4 JacksStar Time amp160Riggle along with Minnie Driver Supermansion Mira Sorvino Startup and Rupert Grint Snatch prefilmed or taped intros to clips from their respective series ditto Rodriguez for the eSports projectamp160amp160 Grade 25 Jacks Noteamp160 If at least one of these celebs appeared live the grade would have bumped up a half JackCuisine amp160By far the best arrangement of its type so far this event season amp160Plenty of choices and well laidout amp160Best eats bitesize breakfast pizza ham and cheese sandwiches on rolls and fruit cocktail amp160Extra credit for including peanut butter among the bagel spreadsamp160 Best drink carrot juice amp160Worst drink kale and apple juice amp160Grade 4 Jacks Note amp160Cuisine ratings do not figure in the overall Jacks scoreData Insight amp160Sonyamp8217s service reaches more than 100 million smart TV setdevicevideogame connections worldwide largely broken down by three psychographic categories amp160amp8220Alphasamp8221 are techsavvy upscale consumers more likely to be watching ads for free content access amp160amp8220Rechargersamp8221 are passionate fans of TV videogames and other entertainmentamp160 amp8220Thrill Seekersamp8221 are naturalborn fans of actionadventure contentamp160 People in the latter category are two times more likely to prefer ads that use humor to make their pointamp160 Grade 35 JacksInnovative Opportunity amp160Adopting multiplatform advertising campaigns running on Sony Crackle PlayStation Pluto TV and anime programmer Funimation amp160Grade 3 JacksOverall Grade amp16035 Jacksamp160amp160 Solid display of the ventureamp8217s mantra working in more focus on whoamp8217s watching and a generous supply of content newsOur Jacks scoring system amp1605 Jacks amp8211 Excellent 4 Jacks Very Good 3 Jacks amp8211 Good 2 Jacks amp8211 Fair 1 Jack amp8211 Poor 0 Jacks Donamp8217t go thereClick on the social media tiles above or below to share this content with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this commentary are exclusively those of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated bloggers

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Upfront News and Views: Sony Crackle Snaps Up New Series

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Simon Applebaum

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