Free ad-supported streaming service Crackle is adding 200 hours of new original content, parent company Crackle Plus announced at the NewFronts showcase Monday.
Crackle Plus is a joint venture formed by Sony Pictures Television and Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment, Inc. The company’s ad-supported VOD channels include Crackle (U.S. and Canada), Popcornflix, Popcornflix Kids, Truli, Popcornflix Comedy, Frightpix and Espanolflix.
New Crackle content will including original sports docuseries, scripted series, feature films and unscripted programming aimed to both “entertain” and “empower” its viewers.
The company announced that it has renewed Ashton Kutcher’s unscripted series “Going From Broke” for a second 10-episode season. The series highlights the student debt crisis and offers solutions for young people to better their financial situations.
The service is also launching unscripted series “History of Gangster Rap” and “World’s Smartest Homes,” as well as three new sports documentaries and docuseries.
Crackle Plus announced four scripted originals Monday. Those include “Spides,” which follows a woman who wakes up from a coma without any memory of her previous life after taking a mysterious club drug; “Safehaven,” a supernatural thriller about a high school comic book artist who finds herself trapped in an alternate reality of her own creation; “The Operative,” a spy thriller series starring Craig T Nelson; and “Flagrant,” about a disgraced college basketball star (played by Michael Rappaport) who gets an unlikely shot at redemption.
As part of its presentation, Crackle Plus also announced a new interactive ad unit that runs as the start of a stream, called “FreeView,” which allows viewers to eliminate mid-program commercials in Crackle originals and exclusives.
The Crackle app, which launched on media player Plex last month, will soon be available on Comcast’s Flex and X1 boxes, as well as fuboTV, CEO Philippe Guelton said.
Photo credit: Crackle