Those 15-30 second spots running in front of two-minute clips dominate online video advertising—and probably user frustration with the format—but that should start to shift as more advertisers see economic reasons to create just for the web. Pre-rolls and post-rolls are easy. Take the commercial being run on TV, leave as is if a 30-sec spot, and shove in front of or after a stream. ClickZ has some numbers from eMarketer that suggest creating for online is going to become more worthwhile although I’m a little surprised by the idea that online video advertising has increased only 82.2 percent from 2005, to an estimated $410 million this year. The projections have it growing at a slightly higher rate next year and hitting 11.5 percent of total spending by 2010. For a different perspective, consider that onlive video ads make up slightly more than one half of one percent of TV ad budgets this year—0.6 percent.
So what’s next?
—Google video tests didn’t even offer pre-roll, pushing persistent branding display ads and post-roll instead. The company is looking for the video companion to paid search. Daniel Blackman, strategic partner for development at Google Video, at Ad:Tech: ““It’s clear users respond to less intrusive, more relevant, targeted ads. Can we approach video advertising with the same mentality?”
—Janet Balis, AOL SVP-sales development, is among those who see product placement and sponsorships as an alternative: “It’s possible to have a graceful integration of brand values and still make it entertaining.”
Depending on how far this goes, some of the alternatives could wind up making pre-roll seem preferable as in I’ll give you 15-30 seconds now if you promise not to bug me while I’m watching.