Will Ferrell Jumps to YouTube for 'No Financial Gain'

Meanwhile, That Bulldog on a Skateboard Gets Some Ads

Posted by Michael Learmonth on 11.05.09 @ 02:56 PM

YouTube is bending over backward to accommodate content creators, and it just landed one it probably should have had a long time ago: Will Ferrell's Funnyordie.com.

Funnyordie was founded three years ago by Ferrell, his producing partner Adam McKay and backed by Sequoia Capital and HBO. The site's biggest video was one of its first, "The Landlord," wherein Ferrell is harassed by McKay's then 2-year-old daughter Pearl.

Why did it take so long for Ferrell to come to YouTube? Initially, they fancied themselves building their own comedic YouTube. That didn't quite work out. There were some other reasons, but let's let Ferrell and McKay explain:

Recently, YouTube started allowing content creators to both sell and serve their own ads, which means Funnyordie could sell across all of its distributors, including YouTube, which probably also factored into it.

In related news, YouTube is, in fact, monetizing videos a lot of pundits never thought it ever could, including this fine example, which is getting ads from American Apparel and ESPN:

6 Comments

By tlazarus88 | Chicago, IL November 6, 2009 04:12:51 am:

A quick correction: the 2-year-old in "The Landlord," was McKay's daughter, not Ferrell's.

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By rcsulli33 | Mobile, AL November 6, 2009 08:34:07 am:

Saw the skateboarding dog in Santa Monica this summer. Pretty awesome. Has anybody put the dog in a produced campaign?

Rich Sullivan
http://redsquareagency.com
http://twitter.com/redsquareagency

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By LooseCannon | PHOENIX, AZ November 6, 2009 09:30:34 am:

That has to be Karen Kay's dog Rocky!

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By ROBERT | SAN FRANCISCO, CA November 6, 2009 10:05:41 am:

There is a certain irony in the notion that sponsors are afraid to associate their brands with user-generated content, such as the infamous (and probably apocryphal) "cat vomiting on your grandmother" while those same sponsors produce professional content like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xB9fhjnJcB0

For more, read my post here:

http://roberthheath.blogspot.com/search/label/%22The%20Office%22

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By editorAdAge | New York, NY November 6, 2009 10:18:28 am:

I don't know if it's Tillman, but there is a skating bulldog in this spot for Armstrong flooring
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KA1t_s9cPhY

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By hershelr | BEVERLY HILLS, CA November 6, 2009 01:12:04 pm:

The irony is that Funny or Die has actually cultivated some funny stuff, while Will and Adam have hit a wall. These old dogs have no reason to learn new tricks. Fortunately for us, cats are always fun to watch!

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