Forget TV, distribute video via Google ads

Cory Bergman August 17th, 2007

This is a big deal. The creator of Family Guy, Seth McFarlane and the star of Disney’s That’s So Raven have teamed up with Media Rights Capital (MRC) to distribute video shorts via the Google Adsense network. Not ads per se, but video content with integrated branding. So instead of creating a video site that would hopefully attract an audience — or inking online video syndication deals — the plan is to distribute these videos via Adsense and target the “ads” to relevant audiences. “We feel this partnership answers the question of how best to reach viewers online, because the web is fragmented into millions and millions of viewing destinations,” said MRC Co-CEO Asif Satchu. “AdSense connects all of those fragments and offers us access to them in one simple and powerful distribution solution.” Adds Google exec Kim Malone, “This combination allows for the creation of original content that was historically too expensive to produce for Internet distribution and connects advertisers with high-quality content” The multi-million dollar deal will involve McFarlane creating new animated characters for 50 video shorts. Separately, Raven-Symone will host “how-to” clips.