Seth MacFarlane, the creator of the Family Guy series, is going on the Web...exclusively. He has a new animated series called “Seth MacFarlane’s Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy” that will be distributed only on the Web. Thing is, he'll be getting the word out thanks to Google.
According to the
New York Times, Google will syndicate the program using its AdSense ad system to thousands of sites full of MacFarlane's target audience of young men.
Instead of placing a static ad on a Web page, Google will place a 'Cavalcade' video clip.
Advertising will be incorporated into the clips in varying ways. In some cases, there will be 'preroll' ads, which ask viewers to sit through a TV-style commercial before getting to the video. Some advertisers may opt for a banner to be placed at the bottom of the video clip or a simple 'brought to you by' note at the beginning.
This new distribution will ripple through the entertainment industry. Every time the clip is clicked, the associated advertiser pays a fee with some money going to MacFarlane, Google, and the site that generated the click.
MacFarlane is tight-lipped about the new project but he describes the two-minute episodes as “animated versions of the one-frame cartoons you might see in The New Yorker, only edgier.”
