It's a bloodbath of the streaming kind, or something like that. Just the other day we were breaking down how much of the most high-profile stand-up comedians that streaming giant Netflix had picked up. Recently announcing deals with Dave Chappelle, Chris Rock, and Amy Schumer. We were left wondering just how many "big dogs" were left. Particularly, would there be an announcement of a Louis C.K., Kevin Hart, or maybe Jerry Seinfeld? Effectively filling out the top comics working or at least covering the Forbes most paid list.
Well, you can wonder no more as it's being reported that Jerry Seinfeld's epic web series, Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee will jump ship from Crackle and have a new home at Netflix. Also the entire archives of the series (6 seasons) will make the migration with him. This effectively guts Crackle's most high profile web series and reason many visit the site these days.
In an exclusive multi-faceted deal, Seinfeld will produce 24 exclusive episodes for Netflix starting in late 2017 and license the entire catalog of Comedians In Cars... to them as well. And, perhaps most excitedly of all, the comedian will also tape two stand-up specials for the streaming giant.
A deeper dive reveals that the departure of a few high profile Sony execs with a longtime relationship with Seinfeld might've kickstarted this move. Sony owns a stake in Crackle, and with their departure, it proved to be a good time for Jerry to make a change as well.