Finance company Media Rights Capital has partnered with "Family Guy" creator Seth MacFarlane and teen star Raven-Symone to create original content. What makes the deal different is its distribution
strategy, which employs Google's AdSense network to package the video content along with banner and online video advertising.
MacFarlane has agreed to create 50 animated shorts,
which will be distributed to various Web sites across the AdSense network beginning next year.
The $10 million content deal also includes a series of Martha Stewart-esque "how-to" segments being
developed by Raven-Symone of the Disney Channel's "That's So Raven" fame.
"Google's AdSense network is one of many avenues publishers should be pursuing and experimenting with," said Gartner
Research analyst Mike McGuire.
Google did a similar distribution deal a year ago with Viacom's MTV Networks--before Google acquired YouTube and subsequently clashed with Viacom over copyright
issues, agreeing to let Web publishers place Viacom-owned video clips on their pages.
Using AdSense's sophisticated technology to match ads on videos with receptive viewers, the initiative was
intended to establish the AdSense network as a viable platform for video programmers. Viacom had been expected to receive more than two-thirds of the ad revenue from the deal, according to reports at
the time.
Syndication has since emerged as the preferred strategy of media companies and content owners to achieve audiences of scale. Added McGuire: "It represents an important shift in the
mindset of media companies. They're struggling to achieve the audiences of scale that used to come naturally from TV."