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)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)The world of video advertising right now is a bit chaotic with multiple types of ad formats and different players, making it difficult for publishers and advertisers to easily serve up the best ads on sites.
A Los Angeles-based start-up thinks it has found the solution. Panache offers technology that allows publishers to use video ads in any format and plug them into any type of video player. Now, publishers have to re-engineer their players for different ad formats.
The technology supports Flash Action Script 2 and 3, Adobe Media Player, IPTV, and Microsoft's Silverlight. Panache also offers a technology that allows publishers to specify exactly where in a video the ad will go and how interactive it will be.
The company is working with ad networks like Gorilla Nation, Burst Media, and CPX Interactive. Its customers include CBS, Yahoo, and Break.com.
Google has launched AdSense for Video, enabling Web sites another way to push ads in our faces.
I'm not complaining...well, actually I am. The ads don't offer much, except more distraction to already ad-filled Web sites.
Viewing the ads on My Damn Channel, for instance, you can't always tell an ad from actual entertainment content. I know the lines between advertising and entertainment are blurring. But this seems like overkill. There are banner ads on the sides, top, and bottom of the page. There are text ads on the sides and the same text ads are now rotating as overlays on top of the video I'm watching, covering up a swath at the bottom of the screen and interfering with the action.
The ads are a distraction, not an enhancement, to an otherwise great program. My Damn Channel's "Horrible People" is a funny online sitcom and well worth checking out. But this can't be the best way to monetize it--with ads I can already see elsewhere on the page.
And where's the context? The ads are for film producers, a commercial director, Burbank sound stages, and women's shoes. Nothing there that would appeal to a general comedy-watching Internet user like myself.
The best thing about the ads are the little "X" in the corner that you can click to make them go away.
Google AdSense for Video puts text ads on top of videos, but it looks like ever more ad clutter on some sites.
(Credit: My Damn Channel)
Microsoft is putting a stop watch on new video-ads found on the company's Web sites.
Visitors to MSN will see an advertisement prior to watching their first video and then new ads will appear every three minutes after. The ads not only show up in the video player but they also unfold an extended section that is similar to a pop-up ad.
This is a different tact taken by Google's YouTube, which last month began testing an overlay format that appears at the bottom of the screen for 10 seconds before disappearing.
Both companies are trying to figure a way to tip-toe around ads so as not to irk users. Many of Google's customers have complained about the overlay ads calling them a distraction.
Unlike Google, Microsoft continues to offer a so-called preroll, which has been criticized by users and advertising experts. Many studies show that users flee from sites that require them to watch an ad before a video. And instead of a 15-second ad, a length adopted by most Web sites, Microsoft has chosen to go with 30-second spots.
The ads will also appear at Microsoft's video-sharing site, Soapbox.
Google is running a limited test that will allow select advertisers to run video ads inside of video clips on some U.S. publisher Web sites in Google's AdSense program. Under the AdSense for Video test, which began on Wednesday, revenue will be split between the Web site publisher and Google. Details were not disclosed. Advertisements will play on the publishers' Flash players and not on YouTube or Google hosted videos. Publishers can select which videos to monetize and track the performance of the ads, as well as choose where the ads will appear within the video. Ads will be 30 seconds or shorter and can be made skippable.
Google ran two pilot tests previously that allowed publishers to choose video clips with bundled ads to display on their sites as part of an AdSense video distribution and sponsorship that involved Epicurious.com, The Wall Street Journal and Conde Nast LX Networks. Google also offers click-to-play video ads to its AdSense publisher network.
With the popularity of YouTube, the ubiquity of fast broadband connections and the fact that many people are watching TV programming on their computers, it's clear that online video advertising is getting hot. One of the latest companies to emerge in this space is Adap.tv, a start-up based in San Mateo, Calif., founded by Amir Ashkenazi, the co-founder of Shopping.com (which was purchased by eBay in 2005).
On Monday, the company is launching its service, which analyzes the content of video clips and displays ads--text links on top of the video near the bottom--in real-time. For instance, a video of Oprah interviewing actor Will Smith can show a link to Smith's biography on Amazon.com when he talks about his book and shows a link to a Web site for his latest movie when he talks about his recent work. In addition to contextual targeting, the ads can "adapt" to the behavior of viewers, says Ashkenazi. Video site Metacafeis the company's first publisher partner and it will be using Adap.tv to show ads on video content in its travel and video games sections. Adap.tv has partnered with large ad networks like Amazon and Shopping.com.
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