A company called RingTales is bringing the New Yorker's iconic cartoons online - animating them and making them ad-supported via post-roll commercials, and offering them to consumers as podcasts - reports ClickZ.

New Yorker's vast library of 100,000 cartoons will allow RingTales to offer brands content that's specific to the potential advertisers' needs. "The main objective has always been for them to be ad-supported and syndicated across the internet. So they would remain free gifts of humor for the viewers," said Jim Cox, CEO of RingTales.

"This is content [that advertisers] can be assured is popular…and they can piggyback their message. It's an effective way to get beyond the :30 commercial."

The animated cartoons will be available via iTunes as well as NewYorker.com, and will allow advertisers to reach an upmarket crowd that "likes nice cars and nice things," according to RingTales President Michael Fry.