Google has apparently signed a deal with “Family Guy” creator Seth MacFarlane, to launch a new
animated show exclusively on the internet in a further sign that advertising dollars are marching
from traditional media to the internet.
Rather than providing traditional ads, Google will group the cartoon show using AdSense to
thousands of specific websites that would present Web surfers cartoon shorts that, once clicked, play
an advertiser’s message along with the content for MacFarlane’s ‘target
audience’ of mainly young men.
What appears to have originated as a simple play to create new cartoon content for the Web -- and
produce income from it -- may in effect herald a new media distribution model. It symbolizes the
first time Google’s massive AdSense network will be used as a vehicle to essentially Web syndicate
video content. If victorious it could imply not only a new revenue source for Google, but could also
offer a glimpse into the future of how media companies syndicate video content for the Internet.
