If people watch the video (and ad that comes with it), G, Viacom and the website share in the revenue.

Google, the article said, will deliver video clips from programs including "SpongeBob SquarePants" and "Laguna Beach" to select Web sites and blogs that belong to its advertising network.

"Google will in effect be syndicating Viacom's programming to the broader Web, allowing Viacom content to reach a much bigger audience than its own Web sites draw," the article by Matthew Karnitschnig said.

"The clips will be embedded with video advertising and the resulting ad revenue will be shared between Viacom, Google and other Web sites that run the clips."

Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt said in an interview, "If this works, it would be a very large business for all players."

The videos at the start will be about four minutes in length.

"Viacom said a major advantage in using Google's advertising network is that it can stipulate both the destination and placement of its content. To begin, Viacom has selected about 200 sites that cater to its core audience of teens and young adults.

The sites mentioned include Popsugar, a celebrity gossip forum and music site Rapgodfather. The article said they typically draw between 100,000 to 150,000 unique visitors a month. "Though small individually, the cumulative traffic of the partner sites would be considerable." <Yeah, bigger than CNN, easy.>

<sigh--I remember, back in the day, when it was all text and pics.>

[online.wsj.com...]

[edited by: engine at 11:13 am (utc) on Aug. 7, 2006]
[edit reason]
[1][edit reason] added link [/edit] [/edit][/1]