Challenge
Sony Crackle, the digital network owned by Sony Pictures, is full length, full force entertainment, free of charge and on-demand. Crackle specializes in hand picked movies, TV shows and original programming in men’s favorite genres – such as action, sci-fi, horror, crime and comedy. Sony Crackle, features licensed movies from Columbia Pictures, TriStar Pictures, Screen Gems, and Sony Pictures, TV shows from Sony Pictures Television and offers Original Content including The Unknown, The Bannen Way and Chosen.
Since their launch in 2004, Crackle has undergone a transformation to improve their offering and has added additional quality content. Crackle’s focus was to continue growing their customer base while improving the experience. They had crossed streaming issues earlier and were looking to quickly improve quality.
Solution
Crackle utilizes Insights for real-time monitoring of each viewer’s experience across multiple devices. To improve overall quality, Crackle implemented Conviva’s preemptive optimization solution, Precision, utilizing adaptive multi-bitrate and CDN stream switching, it detects, locates and prevents any possible failures before it impacts the viewer. Insights delivers audience reach and engagement metrics, which helps editorial, operations and marketing make informed decisions to improve engagement and economics.
Result
Crackle is able to monitor and compare performance across all devices giving full visibility and enabling them to make critical decisions in terms of content, editorial, marketing and operations. Conviva’s platform allows Crackle to fine-tune every component in their video delivery chain to improve quality for each viewer.
• Significant lift in overall quality and user engagement
• 82.1% improvement in the buffering ratio
• 49.6% increase in the average bitrate
• 2-8 minute increase in minutes watched per viewer.
"Crackle has an unique fan-base; it’s imperative for us to understand their behavior and ensure their experience is high quality. We most definitely want our fans to return often, have a great experience and watch more."
-- Daniel Sanders, VP Technology, Chief Software Architect
