Channel Frederator takes on Simon’s Cat

According to Deadline.com, Channel Frederator has formed a new alliance with Simon Tofield aka the producer of Simon’s Cat. Under the new arrangement, Frederator will handle all of Simon’s Cat‘s advertising and distribution including targeted ads that use TrueView and Adwords to cash in on sales of Simon’s Cat licensed merchandise.

Already, Simon’s Cat is one of Youtube’s biggest channels so you can see how big animation power houses would want a piece of the action. It’s also fascinating to watch animated channels being worked in as international brands all within Youtube’s short life span on the internet. Fred Seibert is quoted in the article as saying that this is continued proof that the internet is ushering in another ”golden age of animation” and I can’t say I disagree.

However, with Youtube it’s a bit more difficult to discern from the real players that want to create brands and your independent artists who just want to draw. This kind of turns the internet animation business into that of the music business, where anyone nowadays can create, upload, and share their music using a variety of different means. The challenge (in both cases) is figuring out where your profits are. With music it’s supposed to be live touring that is usually funded by a company looking to make a return on it’s investment in what really is a marketing strategy. Is Channel Frederator just an example of a de facto record label for animation companies on Youtube? Or is that what a network is for? Tell us what you think in the comments below.