The New York Times ran a story today about the increasing popularity among advertisers of online video ads. While the numbers supporting this popularity can’t be denied (38% growth in video ad revenue across the web between last year and this, according to the IAC. Growing to $5.2 billion over the next 5 years according to eMarketer), what is notably absent from the article is discussion of how effective the medium is as an ad platform, or what consumers think of it. But these are questions worth asking since, let’s face it, the answers will determine whether all that money will be well-spent.

While marketing pundits opine about the slow death of the 30 second TV spot, none of the new mediums that have emerged over the past several years -  banner advertising, search ads, social networking - has filled the unique role that television inhabits. TV remains the ideal medium for vivid story telling. It engages viewers in a way that print, outdoor, radio and, yes, even the web, can’t yet approach. TV is still the best way to communicate a richly colored brand message to a massive audience in a short time.

The downside? It’s hugely expensive to buy national television. In an economy where every penny counts, marketers are being held more accountable than ever before for the ROI of ad spends. Simply allocating three quarters of the media budget to television won’t get you there.

But the lines between the various mediums are blurring. Marketers have begun to put in place the integration that was talked about for so long, but never delivered on. TV can begin a story that is continued and enriched online, on radio, out of home and in print. The ascendance of video ad inventory on the web offers more than an opportunity to stick a pre-roll logo with voiceover in front of the online audience, or run the spot that was produced for television. It offers the ability to imbrue online advertising with the same rich story telling as the television campaign, but with the possibility of an authentic exchange with the consumer rather than a one way recitation. This is the true power of the medium and one that has not yet been fully explored.

I predict a tidal wave, but let’s hope the consumer is included in how that wave takes shape.

Posted by Steve Angel | Share: Twitter, Facebook, Del.icio.us, LinkedIn