Crackle, the ​Sony-owned streaming network, is saying sayonara to the NewFronts, the digital cousin of the traditional upfront presentations.

The ad-supported outfit isn’t suddenly ditching Madison Avenue—far from it.

Instead, Crackle is set to become the first digital streaming network to present at the old-school upfronts. The net’s April 14 upfront is all about aligning the Crackle brand with the mainstream television networks, and carve out a niche amongst Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon.

“We want to send the message that we are a premium-streaming TV network with a core focus on creating quality, long-form original programming and delivering it over the top on every platform,” Eric Berger, Crackle’s EVP and general manager told AdWeek on Thursday.

The new upfront positioning is part of a broader plan to sharpen Crackle’s brand identity among both industry players and the viewing public.

Crackle is on practically every streaming device, including Apple TV, Roku, Xbox, Kindle Fire, and Smart TV. But in the public conversation about the rise of streaming and OTT, Crackle has found itself largely eclipsed by Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon.

Viewers are probably most familiar with Crackle’s Jerry Seinfeld-produced series Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, but the rest of its slate flies largely under the radar.

Crackle’s Name ID issues came sharply into focus as Sony managed the crisis surrounding the release of The Interview and the massive email hack. When some media reported that The Interview would be released on Crackle, the internet responded with a giant “who?”

As one blogger put it at the time: “Crackle is one of the biggest streaming platforms out there that no one I know uses. Seriously. They’ve got a strange mix of action films, stoner comedies, and classic Seinfeld episodes.”

According to Sony, about 18 million people view Crackle programming each month.

Read More: AdWeek

Brief Take: Crackle’s branding issues go deeper than which forum they use to secure advertiser commitments. But the move out of the NewFronts could prompt industry observers to take a second look at the brand, and signals that the company is thinking hard about what it wants to ultimately be.

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