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Crackle review: the commercials are so frequent that the viewing experience is ruined 38

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Author of the review
10:54 am EDT
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Crackle doesn't have the best selection of movies, but there are enough that I WOULD use the service IF it weren't for the incessant commercials. I understand services like Crackle make money off advertisements, but don't the Crackle executives read reviews of their site? The commercials are so frequent that the viewing experience is ruined--which means I'd rather NOT watch a movie than be rudely jarred out of entertainment-mode with garish, tacky, too-frequent commercials. Business people remark often that time is money. If they believe this, then they insult us by wasting our valuable time with commercial-overload. Better to pay for a movie, enjoy the 80 minutes, and get to bed, than sit through the insulting gibberish the ad companies try to push down my throat. And the irony is whatever product I DO happen to catch from an intrusive ad, I have such a negative feeling about I'm SURE not to buy it. Enough ads!

38 comments
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ebony Cook
, US
Mar 05, 2023 7:19 pm EST

I'm only watching because I found a binge worthy old show, that I unfortunately cannot watch any where else. The incessant commercials are so annoying and ruin the experience. I will never watch a show or movie on this channel again. Just not worth it.

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Chowa
, US
Oct 22, 2022 7:56 pm EDT

Won’t be using crackle again!

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JSCOTT1000
, US
Sep 05, 2022 11:12 pm EDT

In general I don't mind watching ad supported television but Crackle pushed me to my limit. Four to 6 unskippable ads every 5 minutes. An hour and a half movie takes an extra hour to watch. If that weren't bad enough if you accidentally back out of the app you have to watch ads to get back in. I will pay to rent a movie before I ever use Crackle again.

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ellen rohletter
, US
Aug 29, 2022 4:16 pm EDT

Constantly interrupted in the crackle app by buffering it is maddening. I don’t recall it being this way last year but man this year it’s terrible. I don’t think I’ll watch it any longer and I agree with the other comments about all the advertisements. In fact when each series started the advertisement would come on and the show I was watching started playing over the ad?!?!? What’s up with that🥴?

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Anti-PC
, US
Nov 13, 2021 6:47 am EST

I watched a show on Crackle (The Indianapolis) on my tv via ROkU, and the commercials weren't too bad. I think it was the same commercial every time but I don't watch commercials anyway. So I would choose interact with ad, and wait 30 seconds using my laptop to pass the time.

Then another movie came on (First Kill) and it looked okay, so I watched it also. Toward the middle of the movie, there was a commercial every 5 minutes (very annoying). And it was the same commercial every time. Now how is that gonna benefit anyone even the company paying for the commercial?
After about the 10th commercial break, I told myself I will not be watching Crackle anymore. Adios.

I flip around between services (Roku, Redbox, Hulu, Newsy, Newson, Youtube, and Amazon). I get them all free, Hulu via my phone service and Amazon via Amazon Prime. I haven't watched Crackle since it was the first free channel I saw when I purchased a ROKU stick about 2 years ago. There are too many other free channels.
I also haven't paid for HBO or Netflix during that time. My plan was to purchase a streaming service for a month and watch all the shows and switch to another one next month. But with all the free content, I haven't even paid for one in a year or so. But I will never watch Crackle again. It is way too annoying even if it was the only free service.

Btw, Youtube is great for watching cable news as they put all the clips I'm interested in on Youtube, and I don't have to watch most of the boring stuff.

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Billy willy
, US
Feb 25, 2019 10:44 pm EST

Should change the name to Crapple instead!

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Mary Neal
, US
Dec 16, 2018 7:29 pm EST

Sony should take a serious look at The Roku Channel. Like Crackle, commercials are shown with TRC content. Big difference though. The number of irritatingly incessant commercials shown on Crackle is obscene. Get a grip Sony. You should know better than this!

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Brian Furches
, US
May 27, 2018 12:19 am EDT

Thanks for telling the TRUTH folks, but of course what else would you expect from a money grubbing company like Sony since they've shown their [censored] too many times by refusing to lower prices on their game systems over the years while nintendo and xbox did lower theirs. I won't be installing it.

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Nancy Tabak
, US
Apr 11, 2018 6:14 pm EDT

Thanks for the reviews. I won’t be wasting my time.

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stephan arena
, US
Mar 24, 2018 8:40 pm EDT

Well i've noticed something, when i watch crackle on my chromebook i DO NOT see any ads at all, so instead of using my smart tv i just hook up my laptop to my tv and enjoy watching it on a 60 inch screen.

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Jeremy Pilot
, US
Jan 28, 2018 10:17 pm EST

Crackle is awesome. So you have to watch a couple commercials, so what? That's how they pay the light bill. I freaking loathe paying for Netflix and Hulu so I don't. I use crackle and get great movies for free. And sometimes I actually buy the products. So yeah STFU idiot.

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Beatriz Mendoza
, US
Jun 24, 2023 4:21 pm EDT
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

It's not just a couple of commercials that ruin my Crackle watching experience; It's the constant "freezing" on some commercials that ruin it for me and while you're watching the show, that really doesn't happen; But when it cuts to a commercial, that's when the problem happens; It freezes every five or ten seconds! It's annoying!

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N Business
, US
Sep 14, 2017 1:24 pm EDT

Sorry but 8 commercials just trying to watch an episode of Who's The Boss in between one scene at a time is ridiculous! Nobody is going to stay with Crackle and make them revenue with this overkill. Hulu makes you pay to not have commercials. I would be glad to pay a few bucks for Crackle to do the same than put up with this. Also between the commercials is dead black space for a minute or two at a time so sometimes you have 10 minutes worth of commercials (literally) for a 30 minute show . Taking an hr to watch a 30 min show is a no go for me. I think Crackle wants to make money off of us so they need to tone it down. Nobody is going to stay for that much.

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agon024
, US
Jun 21, 2017 1:44 pm EDT

I can't believe people are [censor]ing about advertising on a free service. How else is it supposed to be free! You know what pisses me off paying for cable and satellite to get loaded with more commercials and Crackle has. And I'm paying for it! How about complaining about a service like Comcast where you pay them a crapload of money per month and they still throw tons of commercials in it. I love Crackle! If you don't want ad then sign up for Netflix or Amazon Prime and get it commercial free. Until then you ungrateful [censor] stop [censor]ing about a service that's three and decides to put commercials in it for some sort of Revenue and to be able to pay the production companies for providing this movie to you. They have to pay to offer u these movies! Crackle doesn't get them for free. Think you [censor]! Or is that too hard for you.

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Tom8Williams
, US
Jun 16, 2017 11:49 am EDT

Crackle needs to fix their advertising engine. A recurring complaint in this thread is that the commercials just pop up at odd times, in the middle of scenes. This is not be design... this is called Lack of Design. Perhaps Crackle is cash strapped or perhaps they don't care. Whatever the reason, the commercial delivery is flawed badly and it will eventually cost them dearly. I am about done with the service myself due to the poor commercial delivery.

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agon024
, US
Jun 21, 2017 2:01 pm EDT

How about you stop [censor]ing about a completely free service you ungrateful [censor]. If you don't like it sign up for Netflix. Aside from that shut the [censor] up! It's free! Do you really want to continue with these comments. Go ahead. I'll rip into you you little [censor]!

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FudgePants
, US
Jun 03, 2017 3:04 pm EDT
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

I appreciate that Crackle is free, and MANY more people would use it and see the ads if they were better managed. I get ads anywhere from every 7-9 minutes, and they don't fit in where a normal commercial break would be expected. They just show up out of the blue and interrupt important scenes. The longer I watch, the more commercials I get. I guess they figure once you are invested n the show, you will watch even more. Sadly, after watching 7 commercials, it goes back to the menu (it probably got tired of the commercials too). When I try to resume, the commercials start all over again. I watched a 1 hour and 42 minute movie, and it took almost 4 hours. I think that is unreasonable, even if it is free. I know it's my right not to watch, and I won't be anymore, until they find a happy medium that is more acceptable.

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agon024
, US
Jun 21, 2017 2:04 pm EDT
Replying to comment of FudgePants

If you don't like it then don't use it you [censor]. How stupid are you. What you need to do, is find your local drug dealer buy a gun put it in your mouth and pull the trigger because you are a complete waste of air you stupid ignorant [censor].

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Librarian Chica
, US
Nov 04, 2017 10:36 pm EDT
Replying to comment of agon024

Are they paying you to sound so loyal? FREE Hulu doesn't have this many commercials.

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Ronnette45
, US
Aug 18, 2018 11:15 pm EDT
Replying to comment of agon024

You are a complete as*hole and [censored]...better yet why don't you go stand in the middle of any street while cars come at you and run your worthless [censored] over!

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Ronnette45
, US
Aug 18, 2018 11:16 pm EDT
Replying to comment of agon024

YOUR A COMPLETE [censored] AND AS*HOLE

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Scott Burry
, US
Aug 14, 2021 1:27 am EDT

What is FREE Hulu? I haven't f9ound Hulu to be free

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Dimwit Lamb
, US
May 23, 2017 12:22 am EDT

It is bad enough that there are way too many commercials, the same commercials, over and over doing the buyer of the ad time no benefit more than if they were shown once or twice. But Crackle is so buggy that on every error, it makes you watch the commercials again, and doesn't stream well, so ads take much longer to play than the content. Crackle forgets where you left off? Play long stream of ads until you can move the start to correct position, and plays ads again. Missed the exact point, maybe a little too far backward or forward? Correct and receive 6 minutes of ads that take 30 minutes to play (as they stop, fail to load, ...). It would be far more effective if the ads were fewer, not repetitive, not suddenly higher quality than the movie destroying the bandwidth, and not punitive in making you always watch ads every time Crackle makes an error.

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Anonymouse95
, US
Apr 28, 2017 1:26 am EDT
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks ads are getting out of hand. If I invest my time in watching something then I expect it to be THAT and not a bunch of commercials about cars. Youtube is the same now, it's all about ads ads ads and the only way to make them stop is to pay for their Youtube Red which I won't do. And they put ads even on free videos that users make themselves and upload. How is that fair? Youtube makes money but the person who makes the video doesn't.

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The real mama
, US
Apr 27, 2017 10:57 pm EDT

Can't watch a momie without that dang lowes commercial every 3 minutes! And always the same damn one! No more crackle for this family thanks anyway. Can't keep a kid quiet to watch a movie to begin with without all these damn commercls!

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Ray1124
, US
Apr 12, 2017 4:55 am EDT
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

Beside all the commercials, it is always the same ones first Red Lobster then Starbucks then Red Lobster then again Starbucks then a vacation ad, then Nintendo then another Starbucks then Nintendo again, finally I get to see 10 min. Of movie then back to the commercials. There is almost more commercials than movie.

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d col
, US
Jan 26, 2017 6:16 pm EST

For me when I try to watch Comedians in Cars it just plays the same commercial over and over again. Newer plays the show.

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Ray Hopkins
, US
Dec 17, 2016 8:42 am EST

So im watching a movie on crackle on my PS4 over and hour in i check something else out on my ps4 for a few minutes and go back and hit resume movie and it took me back around the 30 minute mark. So i fast foward and i have to stop for the commercials or else it freezes. Then when i get to a certain commercial break it freezes completely so i cant finish the movie. If you ever use this #### service you better be ready to watch in one sitting or you will regret it

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dirtcheapshtuff
Wildwood, US
Nov 18, 2016 11:16 pm EST

I love Dennis Quaid...and I understand that ads generate the revenue that pay for these big stars' ENORMOUS salaries...BUT...2 minutes of ads every 10 minutes on CRACKLE simply make the programs UNWATCHABLE. If nothing else, follow the HULU model and let people pay a few dollars a month to get rid of these obnoxious, invasive ads. I have DELETED the CRACKLE channel from my ROKU box until such time as the powers that be at CRACKLE wake up to the fact that their customers are not going to put up with this.

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Chris Smith
, US
Nov 05, 2016 5:35 am EDT

Made the mistake of falling asleep during a movie and trying to resume the next day. Fast Forwarded to halfway through the movie, and Crackle is like "Nice try. Now watch every single commercial break you skipped over." About 50 commercials in a row.

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Bryan Anthony
, US
Aug 27, 2016 4:41 pm EDT

The Crackle app on my old Sony Blu Ray player seemed to have less content but during an episode of lets say Married With Children, there'd only be one to two commercials every ten minutes, and they were uber short. The Crackle app on my Roku looks better and seems to have far more content but after the opening credits of Married With Children there's 5 commercials, then after 5-10 minutes of the actual show, there's another 4 commercials. The commercials also seem to freeze for a moments quite a bit. The whole "the service is free so you have no right to complain" defense of Crackle just doesn't fly because a lot of tv channels are free, like the CW, but the CW airs half the commericals during a 30 minute show that Crackle does, same goes for NBC, CBS, etc, and so on which are also all free.

Its a shame because Crackle on my Sony blu ray player was a great service, they had all of the episodes of Robotech last month for example and only one to two commercials every 12 minutes, but on the Roku, it sucks.

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Bunnybuddy
, US
Mar 17, 2016 10:52 am EDT

Watch almost a whole movie and every time it goes to commercial it starts way back at beginning, try to fast forward, and goes to commercial and back to same spot way back at beginning. It has done this for more than one movie.

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Reviewer47340
,
Jan 06, 2016 6:08 pm EST

Trying to watch Art of the Deal, unwatchable. Too many commercials. Keeps freezing up. I really think this channel is run by crackheads.

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terryO
, US
Nov 27, 2015 9:45 pm EST

I'm sorry, did someone post here that - "you have no right to complain if the service is free" (?)
There is absolutely nothing about Crackle that is free. If you devalue your worth so much that you think your time and attention have no value you might ask why they spend millions on commercials.
Frankly if I am watching a show and there is any recognizable product in frame then I am indeed being advertised to already without a commercial break. Be that a car, watch, appliance, alcohol, cigarette, any brand period - I have paid with my attention either subliminal or conscious. How anyone can say that 5 to 6 sets of 4 to 5 commercials in a row justify the privilege of watching Hollywood tripe shows how low an opinion they have of their self worth.
We are the consumer, the target audience, our viewership is essential to revenue. How we vote is ALL that counts and they know it.
Crackle is in a bind because of their model, people do not like the incessant commercials which are far greater than traditional broadcast stations. This is the reason they have to show so many commercials - to make up for the loss of better quality viewers who won't stand for this nonsense and leave.
As of today I am removing the channel from my Roku list. The last thing I want is for this garbage to catch on.

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Reviewer84442
,
Sep 21, 2015 5:39 pm EDT

I watched one movie, and now no matter which movie I choose, it just plays the same damn movie again! It does not register that I've chosen a new movie, even though it appears to think it's playing that movie, it's still just playing the first movie I watched!

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johndoe12
, US
Jul 08, 2013 9:11 pm EDT

I used crackle once. as you said the ads are WAY mega overboard frequent. there are more adds than on TV. I wrote down the names of the companies being advertised and put them on my list of business to never buy from. then I deleted crackle. Their movie selection is garbage just like netflix. old outdated stupid B-rated crap.

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WalkerTex
Brisbane Metro Area, AU
Jun 17, 2012 4:35 pm EDT

Iron Muffin just copying what everyone else is saying once again. Anything original to add or are you just a parrot?