Crackle, the Sony Pictures Entertainment site that derived from Grouper last July announced that Jonathan Shambroom, originally VP of products and marketing, has become the general manager who will lead development of the site. iSPOT caught up with him last week to find out how the site, which offers a variety of professionally produced content, is making itself available to advertisers. His comments demonstrate how video content sites can provide unique opportunities for advertisers, who can create their own long-form content and sponsor video-making contests.
iSPOT: We reported on Crackle after it launched last July. What’s happened since then?
Shambroom: We’re pleased with the growth we’ve had. We launched as a departure from UGV (user-generated video) sites, focussing on premium content and editorially choosing every video that’s going on the home page so users have a great experience, which satisfies advertisers who want predictable high quality content they can’t get on ugv sites. Our hypothesis was to create shows that are branded and branch out to the best talent across the different genres to produce the shows and advertisers are going to sign up. We’ve had great traction with advertisers like Pepsi, Honda, Ford, Adobe, Epson and the Sony family of products. They’re pleased with click throughs, branding and engagement with viewers that has led to re-upping campaigns and opens doors for ad growth.
iSPOT: What kind of ads are playing?
Shambroom: We offer advertisers a lot of choice that lets them engage more deeply with the audience in a variety of ways. They can offer episodic content of their own that is brand centric and let it play out over time, for weeks or months. We did a campaign with Ford for their Sync product where they created their own content around two characters traveling across the country going to music events and they worked the car into the videos. Ford produced the content and we were able to integrate it.
iSPOT: How did it play within Crackle content?
Shambroom: The real estate on our home page includes a primary player for general content as well as a 300×250 player for advertorial content. Depending on the content, we can run it there or if it’s content with product placement, we treat it as exclusive creative content and we can put it in our normal player. It’s wrapped into the package that will include a customized skin so the environment of the page is branded. Advertisers have a share of the video in rich media skyscrapers, interstitials and video ads that play between videos in a channel or a show the advertiser has sponsored. Different advertisers want different things. We can offer contests where users submit their best videos and vie to win a pitch meeting with studio execs. It varies by channel. We had a contest at the Shorts channel sponsored by Honda and they were pleased with the results. The video that won the contest achieved it’s own p.r. The channel has its own reputation and when the video goes viral, they get additional attention.
iSPOT: Can you discuss the different kinds of content at Crackle and what kind is most amenable to advertising.
Shambroom: The content matches the audience and demographics advertisers are looking for. We have content that is part of Sony from TV and the film group. We had a program called Minisodes that was sponsored by Pepsi. Another example is a Shorts channel that Honda sponsored. It included a short film contest, which they thought was a good fit for viewers and the producers of the films. Excuse the pun because they were advertising the Honda Fit. The winner of the contest was so happy, he took some of the development money he won from the contest and bought a Fit and made another video about it. It was a great selling point for Honda since the top creator was leading by example. Another program is the HDNA campaign for Sony. It’s a program about Sony HD technology. Digital HD has been next big thing for a long time, so we launched the HDNA program that focuses on Sony’s high quality products like the Bravia TV.
iSPOT: Speaking of the Bravia, doesn’t Crackle content play on the TV?
Shambroom: There are two ways to view it on Bravia TVs. You can attach a computer to the TV set, but Bravias also come with the ability to connect directly with the Net. You plug an internet cable into the back of the TV and there’s an interface built in that includes content from providers that stream in content from the Net. Crackle is one of the first three providers. We have comedy, music and animation content targeted to the Bravia audience. No computer is needed to browse Crackle content that way.
iSPOT: What impact does viewing Crackle content that way have on advertising?
Shambroom: When Sony wants to roll out digital advertising in any content that’s streaming to the Bravia, it’s great for the brand because it’s exclusive. That kind of advertising doesn’t exist yet on Bravia TVs, but as soon as Sony offers it, any advertiser that is playing on Crackle will play there.
iSPOT: Does Crackle play on any other sites besides Crackle.com?
Shambroom: We’re on social networks like Bebo, Piczo, Facebook, Myspace and Friendster. You can add Crackle to your profile page on any social network or blog and the player will go there with all the advertising associated with the content. We negotiate revenue share deals with the sites so they’re incentivized to promote us and we’re in front of their audience. The advertising follows the content, even with self publishers who put the content on their own sites.
iSPOT: There are lots of video sites out there. How does Crackle differ in terms of content and advertising opportunities?
Shambroom: Crackle has set out to establish itself with premium content. We don’t charge for content but have content of that caliber and we’re getting it because we have a large development budget and are reaching out to the creative community and commissioning high quality online entertainment. We also have content coming to us from Sony. We get TV content out of their catalog and their film library that gives us an advantage. Top quality content helps us rise above the ugv space, which is unpredictable. They have break-out hits but a lot of time is wasted wading through the morass and advertisers have recognized that. Crackle offers consistent, high quality content that reaches a variety of demographics with specific shows. Our music shows are especially popular and we’re creating additional shows because we have more advertising than we can take for the existing shows.
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