Web-Video Spots Present Dilemma For Advertisers

the WSJ reports:

"(...) Some Web video sites, such  as YouTube and Google, are mindful  of consumers(...). Neither runs pre-roll advertising. But that isn't  the case at many other popular Web outfits, including Yahoo, AOL, MSN and MTV's Overdrive, where  pre-roll ads are plentiful. To pre-roll or not to pre-roll? It is a rising debate on  Madison Avenue and in the Internet community. As video Web advertising starts to  take off, pre-roll spots are an increasing source of ad dollars for Web sites  that accept them. But by running the spots, sites run the risk of losing viewers  to pre-roll-free rivals.

"Over time, users might choose to go to sites which  don't have these kinds of ads," says Gokul Rajaram, a director of product  management at Google. The search giant decided to eschew pre-rolls after  discussions with advertisers and online publishers about the potential for  pre-roll ads to drive viewers elsewhere, he says. Google doesn't yet sell video  ads on Google Video, but it has tested "post-roll" spots that run at the end of  a video.

YouTube executives weren't available for comment. The  video-sharing site runs banner ads and also gives advertisers the opportunity to  run video ads that users can click on if they are  interested.

(...)  Time Warner's AOL, for instance, believes  spots of no longer than 15 seconds work better, and doesn't think its users  should have to see several pre-rolls over the course of a single video-watching  session, says Kathleen Kayse, an AOL Media Networks executive vice president.  Some, such as CBS, run pre-roll  ads with short videos but use so-called mid-roll ads -- appearing in the middle  of a program -- for longer segments.

General Electric's  NBC Universal runs pre-rolls on its Web sites, but also suggests advertisers  experiment with various lengths and other formats, says Peter Naylor, the  company's senior vice president of digital media ad sales.

Executives at ad agencies and Web concerns say Web video  advertising needs to evolve. Pre-rolls may not disappear, says Yahoo's chief  sales officer, Wenda Harris Millard, but, "I don't think this will be the  majority of video advertising online, by  far."