Video ads now showing on Google, Yahoo search

Video ads for select keywords are now showing up on Google and Yahoo search sites. I took a look and I have to say I prefer the Google ads because they seem less intrusive and obnoxious.

I typed in "smartphone" on Google's search site and saw a hot link that said "watch commercial" under the second sponsored listing on the right side. Clicking on that link opened a small 2-inch-by-2-inch window below the listing that automatically played the 34-second ad. I could pause the video or hide it.

I got a similar experience when I typed in "Curve," except the window was slightly larger and the ad was available underneath one of the sponsored results near the top of the page. But this did not appear every time I tried. Fortunately, I was able to grab a screenshot the one time it worked for me.

The Curve video ad on Google search.

(Credit: Google, RIM)

On Yahoo, typing in "Special K" or "Honda" brought up video ad links underneath sponsored results near the top of the page. When I clicked the "play video" icon the page went gray and a 5-by-5-inch window popped up and began playing the ad. The Special K ad ran for 30 seconds and the Honda ad for 23 seconds.

But do I really need a big window to watch an ad? I like how Google's ads are smaller and don't interfere with the rest of the page, allowing me to continue to view the "organic" or non-paid search results while the ad is playing. On Yahoo, when I click the ad I can forget about doing anything else while the ad is playing, and I have to click the "X" to close the window and get back to the search results.

It will be interesting to see how many people actually click on the new video ads. To be honest, I wouldn't have if I weren't a curious journalist doing my job.

Video ads on Yahoo search take over the page. This screenshot shows an ad for Special K.

(Credit: Yahoo, Kellogg's)

[alexbcnd]

Misleading

The screenshot for google is for an experimental search, I tried this
several times on regular google searches and I never got a link to a
video ad. I even tried it at the Google Labs "Alternate views"
experiment (which is what the screenshot shows) a I still didn't get
the video link.

[elinormills]

ads show for some Google users, not all

I checked with Google and they described this as a: "Video Ads PlusBox experiment on Google.com. We are currently testing this new format on a small percentage of users across Google.com. You do not need to be using Google Labs to see the ads."

[kwiswall]

Who cares?! Write about something worth reading

I bet you are just a Google fan who dawgs on Yahoo. Get a life, write about something worth reading :-p

In any event, why does it mater if you can?t see the rest of the screen when viewing a commercial on yahoo? You clicked on the ad to watch it right? I don?t understand why this is such a big deal? If you don?t want to watch the ad than don?t, if you do then just watch it.

People these days!

[donegan01]

misleading again

I have noticed your observation about how the webpage going grey after the video loads. How ever this doesn't provent you from continuing to scroll the page and click on the links. They still work, the greying of the webpage just ensures the user focus on the commercial but they can still choose to ignore the add and scroll the page and click on the other links.

[elinormills]

Yahoo ads are more limiting

The video ads on Yahoo darken the results page to the point where I can barely see it, thus making it most unlikely that I can continue to read it. Clicking anywhere on the page effectively ends the video.

[bobby_brady]

I turn off ActiveX, kills most ads

eom

[BlueLaser]

If you're using IE...

For anyone -not- using IE, or even those using newer versions of IE, ActiveX is totally irrelevant. Fortunately, browser plug-ins like AdBlock and IE7 Pro help solve the ad problem for most. Check them out for a more robust solution to blocking your ads...