According to an article in the New York Times, Seth MacFarlane, of Family Guy fame, and search giant Google are working together to form a new style of cartoon video advertising. Working with a production company, Macfarlane and Google will produce 50 two-minute episodes of ‘edgy’ cartoons that are set to launch in September.

Titled “Seth MacFarlane’s Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy”, the ads will form part of Google’s AdSense program. Advertisers can get their sales messages to consumers via pre-roll videos that play before the content or through less obtrusive links, banners or sponsorships. Family Guy DVD sales must be slowing because MacFarlane is also reportedly working to produce some clips for advertisers.

Media Rights Capital (MRC) will sell the advertising associated with the syndicated clips so that when a clip is clicked, the advertiser pays Google, MacFarlane, Media Rights Capital and the website that served it.

First announced in August last year, MRC is financing what it says will be multi-million dollar content, and while the actual money involved is unknown, it seems to be breaking new ground in the high-dollar investment of original Web-based video content.

Instead of using a show-branded website to deliver videos – or even a YouTube style site – Google’s AdSense advertising network will become the delivery model for the content itself. MacFarlane’s animated cartoons may be the catalyst that turns an advertising-driven network into a content delivery network. Google could become a publisher of original media similar to ABC, NBC, CBS or FOX.

Mike McGuire, a vice president of media research for Gartner told the E-Commerce Times. “I think for creators, what’s been lacking is a reliable way to monetize their content. The distribution and payment model might enable the creation of a whole new set of content streams.”

“For MacFarlane, who’s probably got a lot of people working for him, animators and such, this is a chance to throw even more stuff into the mix - but in a more controlled setting,” McGuire added. “This gets very interesting … it may be a new palette for creators.”