Late last year we mentioned that Google was tiptoeing into the content distribution game, using its AdSense network. The program seemed very limited (and somewhat confusing). Basically, with all the various sites out there (including us) that used AdSense for some advertisements, Google would let them choose from a (incredibly small) selection of videos to include on their sites. The videos would run with ad overlays, potentially providing a little bit of revenue to the partner sites. The whole thing seemed extremely forced and not all that compelling. Most sites have plenty of options for adding content, and this didn't seem to add much of value.

Google is now trying to expand that by getting content creators to create content specifically for this program, kicking it off by signing a deal with "Family Guy" creator Seth MacFarlane, who is creating new content just for this endeavor. It definitely helps to get a big name involved -- and we still think that it's worth watching what other services Google tries to provide to its AdSense partners, but it's still not entirely clear how compelling an offering this is. Yes, having good content in the pool will certainly help -- but Google is going to need to do a better job explaining why this is different than just embedding videos from YouTube.