• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, June 11, 2010

Electus -- IAC's branded content studio run by former NBC exec Ben Silverman -- has released a sponsored Web series starring Jason Bateman and Will Arnett.

Developed by DumbDumb, Bateman and Arnett's production studio, the digital shorts highlight Orbit gum and its purported ability to clean up dirty situations. The content was created, directed and executive produced by Arnett and Bateman, and the team relied on the Web production and development expertise of IAC-owned content creator CollegeHumor.com.

Electus has an overall first-look deal and international distribution rights on all of DumbDumb's content including television, motion picture and digital.

"Major brands recognize that the media landscape is changing quickly and that their success relies a great deal on their ability to expand well beyond traditional advertising," said Drew Buckley, COO of Electus.

Meanwhile, as the creative agency of record on Orbit gum, Energy BBDO (Chicago) provided creative insight into the campaign development.

The entire team "offered the inherent ability to explore the appropriate areas of comedy for this project," Paul Chibe, Wrigley's vice president and general manager, U.S. Gum and Mints.

To create the Orbit-branded content, Arnett and Bateman tapped fellow actors Jeffrey Tambor and Rachel Harris along with the Upright Citizen's Brigade comedy troupe.

DumbDumb's Orbit digital shorts are presently available on a dedicated YouTube channel. All three branded shorts are expected to begin appearing on various Web destinations, as well as Orbit's main site, in the coming months.

Bypassing the traditional Hollywood system, digital studios have emerged over the past few years to exploit cheaper development and production costs. Ex-Disney head Michael Eisner arguably started the trend with his Vuguru production firm, which officially launched in March 2007 and financed the Web series "Prom Queen."

Last year, ex-NBC entertainment co-chair Ben Silverman formed Electus in partnership with Barry Diller's IAC/InterActiveCorp. Since then, the branded content studio has struck various distribution deals, most notably with Yahoo.

Responding to users' big appetites for Web video, nearly all ad executives and media buyers plan to increase spending on video this year, according to recent research from branded video ad network BrightRoll. Indeed, 94% of respondents said they plan to increase their spending on video -- up from 87% last year.

Still, the majority -- 54% -- said they planned to spend their budgets on interactive pre-roll, while just 20% expressed an interest in branded entertainment, and 15% cited consumer content and webisodes as potential investment opportunities.

Who's watching video, today? well, despite the mass adoption of online video, viewers remain predominately young, wealthy, and early adopters, according to recent data from GigaOM Pro conducted by TDG analyst Michael Greeson. More than a third of online video viewers surveyed were between the ages of 18 and 32, while those ages 33 to 44 accounted for 30% of viewers. The median age of online video viewers in the survey was 41 years.