Crackle Plus, a free ad-supported streaming service, set a new agreement with Plex to represent the company’s U.S. advertising inventory in the direct ad sales market.
The deal means the Crackle Plus ad sales team will sell Plex ads to marketers and consumer brands in the U.S. The companies said they began working together in May 2020 and have launched a Popcornflix VOD app and the first linear channels from Crackle and Popcornflix in the U.S. on Plex.
Plex functions as a multi-media platform and offers free, on-demand movies and TV shows along with more than 160 linear streaming channels. The company has partnered with content providers including MGM, Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution, Lionsgate, Legendary, AMC and A+E.
“Crackle Plus has been a valued partner in every part of our expansion into offering consumers great free-to-watch movies and TV shows,” said Shawn Eldridge, vice president of strategic alliances at Plex, in a statement. “Working with them for direct ad sales is a natural extension that will allow easier campaign planning for advertising partners.”
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The expanded deal with Plex comes one day after Crackle Plus reached a deal to launch its app on smart TVs and set-top boxes running the Vewd operating system including devices from Sony, Hisense, Vestel, Vodafone and Swisscom.
At launch, Crackle content will be available to customers in the U.S on TVs powered by Vewd’s software.
“Consumers are increasingly turning to AVOD services like Crackle to meet their on-demand content needs,” said Vewd CEO Aneesh Rajaram in a statement. “Now with the Crackle app on Vewd-enabled devices, our customers can keep up with consumer demand and deliver some of the world’s best blockbuster film titles and classic TV series out the gate.”
Crackle Plus linear and VOD networks are available in the U.S. and can be accessed on devices and platforms including Amazon Fire TV, Roku TV, Apple TV, Samsung, LG, Vizio, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One along with iOS and Android mobile devices.