SEO Blog

Quick trivia question… “Why did Google innovate the AdWords advertising system?”

There are a number of plausible answers to that question but the only true answer is, “To make a lot of money.” The plan worked. Google is making so much money, they can afford to take an enormous risk on a fairly safe bet.

A better and more challenging question might be phrased, “Why did Google invent the AdSense advertising distribution system?”

There is only one true answer to that question. Google invented AdSense in order to erect as many digital billboards as digitally possible. AdSense is the program allowing private webmasters to receive income when web users click on Google Ads which are displayed on that webmaster’s pages. The more webmasters sign up, the more billboard space Google enjoys.

The coolest aspect of AdSense for Google is the extraordinary levels of interest and creativity on the part of private webmasters. Google AdWords are contextually delivered, meaning the ad almost always fits the content found on the page they are displayed on. In general Google search results, a query for Blue Widgets will produce any number of blue widget focused AdWord ads, along with several organic references to websites about blue widgets. Choose one of those organic sites, and you might be served a private page about blue widgets that also displays Google advertising. Click on one of those ads and Google splits revenues with the webmaster.

When it was released about five years ago, AdSense was one of the most interesting Internet innovations ever. Providing incentive to create by monetizing creative works was one of Google’s greatest coups, and is likely the move that solidified Google’s position as the number one information resource in the world. Looking back at the move, it is apparent Google both anticipated and filled a need in very short time.

Google devised a system in which a whole world of webmasters created content beside which Google displayed advertising. The system worked and it made Google rich while becoming the greatest online wealth redistribution machine. Sometimes however, a world of webmasters is simply not enough.

Google has anticipated (or simply observed) another shift in society and is moving to take advantage of it before anyone else does. It has found another way to distribute AdWords advertising in a remarkable new format. Earlier today, Google announced a major syndication deal with Seth MacFarlane, the creator of the Family Guy, Robot Chicken, and other cartoons themed to a more mature audience.

Starting in September, Google will begin delivery of “Seth MacFarlane’s Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy” to websites whose visitors fall into MacFarlane’s target demographics, (generally young or terminally immature males like myself). Google will be serving the 2-minute cartoon clips via the AdSense advertising system inserting a cartoon clip in place of a static ad.

Google will be experimenting with the way ads are displayed in the cartoon clips with some showing as traditional pre-roll ads and others as banners beneath the cartoon. There are 50 new cartoons in all, each of which is timed to run two minutes.

According to the New York Times, MacFarlane is also working with some of the advertisers to animate their ads in his style. Though he is not revealing the names or businesses, sources suggest that these deals are, “among the largest ever landed by AdSense, which went into business in 2003.”

What is most interesting about this development is that many feel this could spur enormous online investment in what used to be traditional broadcast entertainment. Until now, budgets for development of original web-content have remained low because advertisers have not been able to figure out how to make the model financially feasible. It appears that Google is about to do for entertainment what it did for private webmasters five years ago, provide sufficient monetization to spur rapid development.

“We believe the revenue could be formidable,” said Karl Austen, a lawyer who worked on the deal. “What is exciting is that this is a way to monetize the Internet immediately. Instead of creating a Web site and hoping Seth’s fans find it, we are going to push the content to where people are already at.” (source: NY Times)

Formidable indeed. A few years ago, Yahoo! was moving towards a similar but far more complex method of creative content distribution. It had hired the legendary Hollywood insider, Lloyd Braun to represent Yahoo! to TV and recording networks. Unfortunately, Yahoo!’s attempts were derailed by a lack of clarity on the part of potential advertisers and restrictive copyright worries on the part of the networks. Such an idea would likely fly today and, by the time Google is done monetizing online entertainment, would certainly fly tomorrow.

Today however belongs to Google. With this advertising distribution deal, Google has probably bought the future of entertainment distribution.