Sony purchased video-sharing site Grouper last year and has changed the name to Crackle. But there's more going on than just the name change.
Sony launches Crackle (formerly Grouper) video site to identify Hollywood talent
Crackle is sponsoring a series of contests -- a 15-minute set at the Improv if you're funny, a pitch meeting with a senior studio exec, $15k studio budget for a film project, and a similar budget for an animation project -- to identify video "pioneers."
In short, Sony is leveraging its investment in the Grouper platform and its presence in the film industry in an attempt to identify new talent for its studios. Given Sony's distribution muscle across its entertainment product lines (including Playstation, VAIO and web-capable TVs in addition to viral and social networks), they will have the ability to make Crackle content widely available and by creating a talent scout approach make a clear break from the "watch this guy fall off his ladder" motif which often dominates video-sharing sites.
Time will tell if Sony's model is successful in identifying Hollywood's future stars. So far, though, Crackle's content looks more like Sundance Channel than the average YouTube video which is admittedly refreshing.
Comments