In June, we reported that Google had signed a deal with the creator of Family Guy, Seth MacFarlane. Under this deal, Google was going to syndicate a series of 50 short cartoon by MacFalrlane through AdSense and the Google Content network. Now, the first series of these cartoons is available on YouTube. This first wave of videos is sponsored by fast food chain Burger King, though we assume that other parts of the series will feature different sponsors.
Advertisers will be able to choose between pre- and post-roll ads, “brought to you by” messages, or banners at the bottom of the screen. Burger King has opted for a 15-second pre-roll ad that is drawn by MacFarlane. These pre-rolls are similar to the opening sequences of the Simpsons and, thanks to MacFarlane’s signature humor, don’t feel as annoying as typical pre-roll ads do, even though the content of the ads has nothing to do with the actual cartoons.
Revenue Split
As our sister blog Last 100 reports, the revenue generated by these videos will be split between MacFarlane, Google, the host of the site the video is playing on, and Media Rights, the production company behind these cartoons.
New Hope For AdSense Video?
AdSense has been giving publishers the option to run YouTube videos with advertising on their sites since last October, but it doesn’t seem as if publishers really ever warmed up to the idea of having relatively random YouTube videos show up on their sites. Also, revenue from these videos tends to be low.
With this new series, some publishers might reconsider running these ads, especially if their audience is compatible with MacFarlane’s brand of humor.
