CRACKLE'S BREAKFREE AD STRATEGY BRINGS SIGNIFICANT LIFT TO VIEWER ENGAGEMENT; NIELSEN STUDY SHOWS HIGHER BRAND RECALL WITH FEWER ADS

CRACKLE ALSO JOINS FORCES WITH A.V. CLUB AND MASHABLE AS PART OF AN EXPANSION OF THE BREAKFREE EXPERIENCE

New York, April 19, 2017 -- At their upfront presentation today, Crackle released the results of a Nielsen study they commissioned that sheds light on the free, ad supported service's innovative approach to advertising called 'BreakFree.' A first-to-market, premium experience for both the consumer and the advertiser, BreakFree promotes binge viewing of Crackle original content and allows for a second touch point of engagement and relevant content for the viewer to go deeper into the show.

Working with Nielsen, Crackle set out to assess both the impact of the network's over the top channel in driving brand lift, and separately, to understand the optimal frequency of advertising within Crackle's BreakFree ad environment encouraging binge-viewing. The results, based on the use of BreakFree in Crackle's tech-centric drama, "StartUp," proved that even with significantly less ads served, advertiser performance can be excellent if wrapped with compelling content. Key findings included:

The BreakFree ad environment outperforms linear television

· Engagement while viewing content, even with less frequency of a brand's ad, resulted in brand lift and affinity as high or higher than if the ad ran 8x+

· Crackle viewers are 7x more likely to recall BreakFree ads vs traditional advertising

BreakFree delivers for brands

· Average Brand - Aided Recall: 76%

· Average Brand Affinity Increase: 25%

· Average Recommendation Intent Increase: 22%

BreakFree creates a more binge- friendly experience for viewers

· 74% of respondents were interested/engaged with the BreakFree story lines

· Majority of respondents described the ad experience as "creative" or "entertaining"

· 68% of respondents indicated that they were likely to binge-view episodes of "StartUp"

· 42% of respondents "could spend all day" watching "StartUp"

"We took a risk out of the gates with BreakFree, and the Nielsen results show that we are onto something very compelling," said Rene Santaella, Senior Vice President, Global Ad Strategy & Operations, Sony Pictures Television Networks. "BreakFree ads perform better than live TV advertising for brand recall, purchase intent and recommendation intent, and are considered a more creative and innovative ad experience. Everyone wins."

"We are extremely happy with how BreakFree performed and how quickly it was adopted by our advertisers," said James Smith, Senior Vice President, Digital Media Sales, Sony Pictures Television Networks. "The blue chip partners that came on board for our launch are testament of the markets readiness for new ad models that focus on viewer attention and return on investment." In the case of our most recent dramas, BreakFree participating advertisers included Sprint, Cadillac, Microsoft, Jaguar, Telltale Games and Infiniti.

Crackle's ongoing commitment to BreakFree advertising, a first-to-market premium experience for both the consumer and the advertiser, is further evidenced by an announcement made today. Crackle will be joining forces with two leading publishers -- Fusion Media Group's A.V. Club and Mashable - to produce stand-alone video content as an extension to our network's originals. By aligning with these two brands, consumers will have access to engaging, relevant and exclusive content which will be available on Crackle as well as on their respective editorial platforms.