Google Hopes to Make a Splash With 'Poptub'

LOS ANGELES Google is mounting another experiment in content distribution that might be even more ambitious than its recent launch of original animation from Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane.

The Internet giant quietly launched a video series Sept. 8 on its YouTube property called Poptub with Embassy Row, the production company run by Who Wants to Be a Millionaire creator Michael Davies, and Pepsi.

As it did with MacFarlane’s Cartoon Cavalcade of Comedy, which became an instant hit on YouTube, Google plans to distribute Poptub on its Google Content Network, an ad network that provides the additional reach of hundreds of thousands of Web sites beyond YouTube.

But while Cavalcade is simply a collection of 50 short-form episodes, Poptub is intended as an Entertainment Tonight for the YouTube set that will yield thousands of episodes, not to mention a more curated point of entry to YouTube, which it has been criticized for lacking.

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