Will Web Surfers Wade Through Online Video Ads?

from the don't-sell-me-soap-when-I-surf dept

We're starting to see advertisers take aim at the internet with video ads, but do websurfers really want them? Jupiter Research found that advertisers spent $77 million in the U.S. for online-video ads last year and projects that the number will jump to $657 million by 2009. Since it's easy (and very cheap) to format TV ads for the web, some advertisers are likely to use the same ads and see the net as just another channel to peddle their wares. The problem with this approach, of course, is that web users aren't TV watchers. Many don't want to be encumbered by slow-to-load ads that suck up bandwidth. Others don't want to be bothered with any ads at all. Then there's the Jeff Bezos approach over at Amazon where they're offering online ads that don't really sell anything, but drive traffic to the site. Will the people who watch these on Amazon (assuming any do) actually buy anything from them afterward or will they just watch and leave? There's no question that video will become more pervasive on the internet and that it can be an effective advertising medium. Will advertisers figure out how to tap into this different medium or will they create a backlash similar to the one triggered by pop-ups? Or, will online-video ads be largely ignored by the surfers they seek to reach?

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