Aug. 7 (Bloomberg) -- Google Inc., moving to tap the growing market for online video advertising, will distribute clips from Viacom Inc.'s MTV Networks to Web sites that use its Internet ad software.

The sites will be able to show clips from Nickelodeon's ``SpongeBob SquarePants'' and MTV's ``Laguna Beach,'' Mountain View, California-based Google said today in a statement. The clips will include ads, producing revenue that Google, Viacom and the Web site owners will share.

The market for online video ads in the U.S. will almost triple to $640 million in 2007 from 2005 as more consumers turn to the Web to watch popular shows, according to researcher EMarketer Inc. Google, the world's most-used search engine, is in talks with other content providers for similar agreements, David Eun, a vice president, said in an interview.

``One of the things we're really focused on now is becoming a technology partner to content owners,'' Eun said. ``We can create an incremental stream of revenues for all involved.''

Google will start distributing MTV Networks clips this month. The videos will appear on Web sites that are part of Google's AdSense program, which lets publishers show text and image ads tied to their site's content.

Categorized Clips

The clips will be three to four minutes long and will be categorized so Web site publishers can select videos that are appropriate to their audiences, Eun said. The ads, to be sold by Viacom, may include spots that run before or after the clip, and static images that are built into the player, he said.

Shares of Google rose $4.10 to $377.95 at 4 p.m. New York time in Nasdaq Stock Market composite trading. They have declined 8.9 percent this year. Viacom shares rose 7 cents to $34.34 on the New York Stock Exchange and have fallen 14 percent this year.

Google and Viacom said this is the first time MTV Networks' videos will be available to consumers on an ad-supported basis outside of the company's own Web sites.

Web sites will have to opt in to be included in the program, Eun said. The ``majority'' of the revenue from advertising will go to the company's partners, he said.

Google also said its video site will sell episodes of shows for download including the animated comedy ``South Park,'' the teen soap opera ``Laguna Beach'' and the kids show ``SpongeBob SquarePants'' on the. Those shows are already available on Cupertino, California-based Apple Computer Inc.'s iTunes store.

``This deal fits in perfectly with our strategy to deliver the best content to our audiences, wherever they are,'' Tom Freston, chief executive officer of New York-based Viacom, said in the statement.

Google started selling television shows online in January, including episodes of CBS Corp.'s ``Survivor'' and ``CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.''

To contact the reporter on this story: Jonathan Thaw in San Francisco at jthaw@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: August 7, 2006 16:07 EDT