Crackle, after dropping user-generated video, sees money roll in
User generated video sites are proving a major disappointment, as ad revenue goes.
Crackle, a Sausalito company once known as Grouper, ditched user generated video when it was acquired by Sony last year — saying that YouTube had won the user-generated video showdown.
The story of Crackle is instructive. It began signing deals with content creators, paying them to produce quality shows, and negotiated distribution rights. This created legal clarity, and advertisers like it. However, even here,… Continue Reading
Sony’s Grouper becomes Crackle, a “pathway to Hollywood”
The online video site formerly known as Grouper — the one purchased by Sony for $65 million last August — has a new name and a new direction.
Now Crackle, it will be a Sony Pictures-backed online talent studio (our previous coverage here).
The hope is that in between Hollywood and YouTube, there is an opportunity to bring together nascent actors and film-makers and turn them into tomorrow’s silver-screen stars. A “pathway to Hollywood,” according to Crackle/Grouper… Continue Reading