Normally when I write about "video ads" I'm talking about advertising built for online video.  This time, however, I'm talking about online advertisements in video form.  These ads aren't really new and there have been several attempts at perfecting the technique.  Some of the videos aren't much more than animations while others are full-fledged videos running inside a viewer.

As I've mentioned numerous times in the past, a healthy balance has to be achieved between online advertising and user tolerance.  Users will just stop visiting sites with obtrusive, interruptive advertising.  And that doesn't work well for the advertisers or the publishers.  Video ads are even trickier because of the resources and bandwidth they require.  If I've got a dial-up internet connection on an old computer I don't want some video ad delaying the display of the page I'm trying to view at the same time it makes my computer usable.

Google's solution comes in the form of click-to-pay video ads.  The ads load as still images, much the same way videos first appear on Google Video.  The user has to click on the ad to view it, thus giving their consent for the required bandwidth and resource usage.  According to research conducted by Google and others (and reported here), this type of setup gets the most favorable reaction from consumers.  In fact, the Google CPG blog has a post highlighting some results from use of Google Video Ads that support the assertion.  Fox Home Entertainment compared 15 forms of advertising and found that Google Video Ads performed the best by generating the most traffic at the lowest cost, the best conversion to sales ratio, and provided the most "stickiness" for customers.

Google's Video Ads don't require any extra payments to Google.  The search company hosts and serves the ads free of charge.  They compete for display just like any other ad in the Google Network.  If a Google Video Ad wins an ad auction, it is displayed in one of three ways.  More details can be found on the Click-to-Play help center.