Google Banks on "Family Guy" Guy

By Rick Aristotle Munarriz
June 30, 2008 | Comments (0)

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Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) bought its way into video-sharing greatness when it forked over $1.65 billion for YouTube. If the search engine giant is going to usher in a new era in video advertising, it may just have to thank Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane.

Google is teaming up with MacFarlane to launch Seth MacFarlane's Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy come September, according to The New York Times. The series will initially consist of 50 clips, each one no longer than two minutes.

A celebrated content creator hopping on the clip culture bandwagon is old hat in the new economy. However, MacFarlane's deal is unique in that Google will offer the clips through third-party publishers in its AdSense program. Instead of a conventional ad or a set of targeted text ads, site visitors will have the option of streaming one of the MacFarlane animated comedy clips instead.

The clips will be backed by ads, with sponsors paying for ads that play before the video starts or are overlaid over the lower portion of the clip itself. Advertisers can also pay to have the less intrusive "presented by" distinction.

Everyone wins. Google, MacFarlane, the media company that brokered the deal, and the individual publishers will share in the ad revenue. Sponsors will also have an engaging way to reach young fans of MacFarlane without having to pay News Corp. (NYSE: NWS) for pricey television ads through FOX.

Google's move also raises the bar in display advertising. Companies like Yahoo! (Nasdaq: YHOO), CNET (Nasdaq: CNET), and Time Warner (NYSE: TWX) lean on Google's paid search ads, but pride themselves in their strengths with display advertising. Between Google's acquisition of DoubleClick and innovative initiatives like the MacFarlane deal, it may not be long before Google takes over the display advertising market as well.

Stewie and his scheme for global domination win, again.

Other ways Google has helped pioneer the eye-candy niche:

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Longtime Fool contributor Rick Munarriz wonders if video will ever kill the marketing star. He does not own shares in any of the companies in this story. He is also part of the Rule Breakers newsletter research team, seeking out tomorrow's ultimate growth stocks a day early. The Fool has a disclosure policy.

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