The Snap on Crackle and Pop: Upfront News and Views

Venue amp160The Innovation and Design space adjacent to the first floor of Sony Square on the corner of Madison Avenue and E 25th St amp160A living timeline of Sony technology from the Walkman to PlayStation surrounded a raised platform with lounge chair and table plus giant screen above Attendees sat in rows of orange and gray chairs and sofas along the back rows Breakfast appetizers juice coffee and tea were served while guests checked out the exhibits including a test run of PlayStation39s virtual realitycapable console Grade 35 JacksPresentation amp160Count on Crackle to A create more original programming for quotconnected entertainment enthusiastsquot a growing viewer psychographic of video gamers who want more immersive TV experiences and B accompany those original shows with limited commercial interruption and VR components amp160quotThese enthusiasts are open to many influences not selfcentered and coview TV with othersquot explained Eric Berger pictured at top Crackle39s General Manager and Digital Executive Vice President of Sony Pictures Television Networks amp160quotEvery original series we do will keep this audience in mindquotamp160 This strategy was reached via an online survey of 1500 gamers 67 percent male33 percent female conducted over the last month by Miner and Co amp160On another note the BreakFree advertising initiative launched last fall in which original series episodes carried just five ad spots each one by a specific sponsor provoked doubledigit increases in brand recall and intent to purchase products A substantial number of viewers giving feedback on BreakFree described their adwatching as entertaining or creative and they said it encouraged them to bingewatch more episodes of a series at one timeamp160 Current clients include Microsoft Sprint and General Motors39 Cadillac divisionamp160 The practice will be expanded in part from creation of special vignettes from Mashable and The AV Club Grade 35 JacksNews amp160The Oath a saga of Los Angeles police submerged into the gang subculture will debut later this year executive produced by Curtis quot50 Centquot Jackson amp160He will also develop one of four series prospects under consideration for 2018 RPM where a Boston usedcar salesman moonlights as a getaway driver for a leading crime syndicate The other three are Accident Park comedy involving a theme park on the skids Tribes dystopian drama set 20 years from now in a tribalcultured US and The Row prison inmates face a choice stay on death row or go on a dangerous space mission Current originals StartUp Snatch and SuperMansion will return for new seasons while The Art of More remains in review for a third seasonamp160 Separately Heroes creator Tim Kring will coproduce In the Cloud a madefor movie with a technologydriven plot amp160Grade 3 JacksHost amp160Berger relaxed in his lounge chair and reading off a tablet on his lap maintained a solid pace and sound demeanoramp160 With the rows arranged for guests in a semicircle his remarks were given in an intimate atmosphere Grade 35 JacksStar Time amp160There werenamp8217t any celebrities on hand to greet or perform therefore no Jacks gradeCuisine amp160Every bitesize offering was delicious Best eats pestofilled bagels French toast with Nutella filling and hash brown bites Worst eats couldn39t find any Grade 45 Jacksamp160 Note Cuisine grades do not figure in the overall Jacks scoreData Insight Ninety percent or more of those online survey takers use gaming as a break in their daily routine believe their console time is an immersive experience and prefer to stream the content they want to catch Seventysix percent prefer to see streamed advertising vs broadcast or cable network messagesamp160 Grade 3 JacksInnovative Opportunity amp160Launching a new series next month that spotlights coming Crackle attractions This Week On with Smosh star Ian Hecox as host will begin next month Grade 3 JacksSpecial Note amp160Could Outsiders the Sonyproduced drama cancelled last week by WGN America come to Crackle for a third seasonamp160 Sony officials I spoke with postpresentation acknowledged that it is an interesting idea Beyond that no commentOverall Grade 35 Jacksamp160amp160 An engaging presentation and space to offer itamp160 More series commitments would have moved the grade up a notchPopNow for some key takeaways from Popamp8217s round of debriefingsamp160with reporters last week originating from the midtown Manhattan headquarters of coowner CBSThe primetime focus is more on scripted series less on unscripted seriesamp160 Comedies Hot Date and Swedish Dicks Private Investigators starring Keanu Reeves get a fall 2017 launch followed by onehour drama Clique in early 2018 That39s a shift from the last two years where unscripted was the in thingamp160 Also Wolf Creek the miniseries derived from the popular horror films will get another miniseries go next yearFrom here on most scripted or unscripted series development will have a star connection in front of or behind the camera amp160Example Jessica Jones star Krysten Ritter is working on monsterminded scripted original The Demons of Dorian Gunn amp160Sarah Jessica Parker39s slate of projects includes comedy anthology Itamp8217s a Dateamp160 Wayoffthebeatenpath comedies in the development hopper include Peaches person born as a boy but raised as a girl and Two Princes Prince Charming dumps Cinderella in 2018 and heads for Venice BeachPop will be an unexpected offABC home of The Goldbergs this fall amp160Initially Goldbergs maker Sony made a deal to launch reruns exclusively on Tribune Media stations prior to a general syndication rollout next fall as reported elsewhere onamp160MediaVillagecom amp160Apparently Sony decided to bind the Tribune agreement with a cable network with Pop the takerWith CBS as coowner it remains to be seen if Pop will serve as a second window for such CBS All Access originals as The Good Fight and the upcoming Star Trek Discoveryamp160 Looks like we39ll have to wait and learnNext up FreeformA review of our Jacks rating systemamp160 5 Jacks amp8211 Excellent 4 Jacks Very Good 3 Jacks amp8211 Good 2 Jacks amp8211 Fair 1 Jack amp8211 Poor 0 Jacks Don39t go thereClick the social buttons above or below to share this content with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this article are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated bloggersamp160

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The Snap on Crackle and Pop: Upfront News and Views

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