Crackle Plus, a series of AVOD services owned by Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment, has reached 85 distribution touchpoints across the U.S. Crackle touts its distribution rollout is ahead of schedule, anticipating over 90 touchpoints by year-end.
It marks an expansion from the 70 distribution points Crackle Plus had as of May.
The expansion of touchpoints, Crackle noted, was partly driven by Chicken Soup for the Soul’s acquisition of the 1091 Pictures studio. The $15.6 million deal brings about 4,000 movies and TV shows to Chicken Soup’s content catalog, according to Hollywood Reporter.
The acquisition includes the studio’s streaming channels SurfNow TV, BlackPix, Unidentified and EchoBoom.
“As we continue to grow the number of distribution touchpoints, our goal is to make it that much easier for consumers to find the content they’re looking for in the most seamless way possible,” said Philippe Guelton, president of Crackle Plus, in a statement. “In doing so, we’re capturing an expanding audience of unique consumers for our advertising partners across our growing portfolio of streaming services.”
Crackle Plus, which includes free ad-supported services like Crackle, Popcornflix and Chicken Soup for the Soul, has been doubling down on creating more ways to access consumers. Crackle recently unveiled revamped versions of its apps for Amazon’s Fire TV and Roku – boasting improved content and user experience.
Moreover, Crackle is available in about 500,000 Marriott Bonvoy hotel rooms as well as via video gaming consoles like PS4 and Xbox.
Crackle is also expanding its FAST presence. The company in May inked a distribution deal with Allen Media Group (AMG), launching five FAST channels on AMG’s Local Now free streaming service.
Parent company Chicken Soup for the Soul is furthering its content library ambitions, as it’s in the process of closing a $375 million transaction of Redbox, a DVD rental business.