Seth MacFarlane, Google Strike Digital Distribution Deal

By COED Staff

With television audiences declining by the day, film and show creators are struggling to find a way to distribute their products in the 2.0 world. Increasingly, people watch their visual entertainment on a computer monitor or cell phone. But Google seems to think they’ve found the answer, and they’ve just signed a deal with Family Guy creator, Seth McFarlane to test it out.

Using Google’s Adsense advertising system, Google will syndicate video clips of the new project, called “Seth MacFarlane’s Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy,” on Websites (like this one) geared towards younger male viewers.

From NYTimes.com:

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.

Mr. MacFarlane, who will receive a percentage of the ad revenue, has created a stable of new characters to star in the series, which will be served up in 50 two-minute episodes.

In an interview, he described the installments as “animated versions of the one-frame cartoons you might see in The New Yorker, only edgier.”

If all goes according to plan, expect to see this form of distribution explode, with everything from new shows to movies signing similar distribution deals to get out their product. And while the death of television may be a long way off, this is definitely an important nail in its coffin.