Visual Appeal

Move over, TV. Online video advertising is here.

More and more, TV-style commercials are appearing on the web. And companies are investing a lot of money in them. 

According to eMarketer, spending on internet video advertising in the U.S. will jump from $775 million this year to $1.3 billion in 2008. That's an expected increase of 68 percent.

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In its November 2006 "Internet Video" report, eMarketer stated that small and midsize businesses could greatly benefit from this hot technology. Online video ads are cost-effective to create, and they can act as marketing materials or even educational tools. It's also easy to promote them through your existing online marketing campaigns, and you can give them more visibility through video search sites.  

A video ad usually falls into one of the following formats: in-page, in-stream or transitional. An in-page ad, or in-banner ad, refers to videos shown in a box within web page content. An in-stream ad, also called a preroll ad, is shown before the video content. Think of the video as a movie; the in-stream ad is the movie preview. A transitional ad, or interstitial ad, is shown to users while they're moving from one web page to another.

Generally, a video ad is 30 seconds long. However, because eMarketer's report states that 46 percent of users are only willing to view an online video for 20 seconds or less, it's a good idea to present your message and call to action before the end of your video.