NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment (NASDAQ: CSSE) announced it launched Crackle Connex – a new advertising sales platform that will simplify the buying process with consistent measurement and performance tracking. Drawing on a robust portfolio of rapidly growing owned and operated Ad-Supported Video on Demand (AVOD) and Free Ad-Supported Streaming Television (FAST) networks and platforms, nearly ten thousand digital out-of-home screens, and over 20 third-party ad supply partners, Crackle Connex offers brands a unique and powerful way to engage with over 80 million monthly active users (MAU).
Crackle Connex offers advertisers a wide range of ways for brands to create and engage with premium content. They include:
- Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment AVOD and FAST Networks – An established and rapidly growing network that includes Crackle – the original free streaming service, iconic home entertainment brand Redbox, and woman-first platform Chicken Soup for the Soul services. Over 70,000 free movies and TV shows and 160 FAST channels are offered to consumers
- Crackle Connex Branded Content Studio – An in-house production studio with award-winning originals and a growing slate of brand-supported shows that build audience trust. The company most recently launched a second season of Inside the Black Box with Publicis’s APX Ventures and season four of Going From Broke, Executive Produced by Ashton Kutcher and hosted by Chegg’s CEO Dan Rosensweig
- Redbox Digital Out-of-Home Network – A rapidly growing number of full-size video screens on top of the iconic Redbox kiosks frequented by millions every week located in high-traffic locations, including supermarkets and mass merchants
- Crackle Connex Audience Extension Network – A turnkey, single-access network of over 20 premium independent CTV and DOOH streaming services representing millions of incremental monthly active users and diverse viewers. Companies include Crunchyroll, Fast Studios, FrndlyTV, Local Now, The Weather Channel, OTT Studios, Philo, Tastemade, and Tricoast (Dark Matter TV)
- Advanced Ad Products and Technology Capabilities – Crackle Connex will soon launch ad technologies that deliver advanced measurement and customer interaction. Working with partners that will be announced in the coming weeks, Crackle Connex will provide incremental, unique, and efficient reach when advertising across Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment owned and operated networks
“With Crackle Connex, Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment has created a leading advertising platform that simplifies the buying process of video advertising across both in-home and out-of-home screens,” said Philippe Guelton, chief revenue officer of Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment and Crackle Connex. “We have some big news to share in the coming weeks and at our Newfront presentation on May 3.”
About Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment
Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment (Nasdaq: CSSE) provides premium content to value-conscious consumers. The company is one of the largest advertising-supported video-on-demand (AVOD) companies in the US, with three flagship AVOD streaming services: Redbox, Crackle, and Chicken Soup for the Soul. In addition, the company operates Redbox Free Live TV, a free ad-supported streaming television service (FAST), with over 160 channels as well as a transaction video on demand (TVOD) service, and a network of approximately 32,000 kiosks across the US for DVD rentals. To provide original and exclusive content to its viewers, the company creates, acquires, and distributes films and TV series through its Screen Media and Chicken Soup for the Soul TV Group subsidiaries. Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment is a subsidiary of Chicken Soup for the Soul, LLC, which publishes the famous book series and produces super-premium pet food under the Chicken Soup for the Soul brand name.
Forward-Looking Statements and Available Information
This press release includes forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts. These statements are based on various assumptions, whether or not identified in this press release, and on the current expectations of management and are not predictions of actual performance. Such assumptions involve a number of known and unknown risks and uncertainties, including but not limited to risks relating to our core strategy, operating income and margin, seasonality, liquidity, including cash flows from operations, available funds, and access to financing sources, free cash flows, revenues, net income, profitability, stock price volatility, future regulatory changes, price changes, ability to achieve and sustain market acceptance of our content streaming services and other content offerings, ability to recruit and retain officers, key employees, or directors, ability to protect our intellectual property, ability to complete and integrate into our existing operations future strategic acquisitions, ability to manage growth, ability to pay dividends and our debt obligations, as well as evolving regulatory or other operational risks, and risks presented by changing general market conditions impacting demand for our services. For a more complete description of these and other risks and uncertainties, please refer to Item 1A (Risk Factors) in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2022 to be filed with the SEC on March 31, 2023. If any of these risks materialize or our assumptions prove incorrect, actual results could differ materially from the results implied by the forward-looking statements contained in this press release. Information regarding the acquisition of Redbox and related transactions is qualified by reference to the Company’s Current Reports on Form 8-K filed with the SEC on May 11, 2022 as amended May 12, 2022, June 6, 2022, August 12, 2022, November 14, 2022 and thereafter from time to time, and all exhibits filed with respect to such reports. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release speak only as of the date hereof and the Company expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to release publicly any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statements contained herein to reflect any change in the Company’s expectations with respect thereto or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any statement is based.
