Future of video advertising? Do you really think so Scoble?

Can this be the future of advertising online? Robert thinks so.

[podtech content=http://media1.podtech.net/media/2007/04/PID_010897/Podtech_Nexidia_demo.flv&postURL=http://www.podtech.net/scobleshow/technology/1442/demo-of-contextual-advertising-on-video-streams&totalTime=280000&breadcrumb=5bbc7ea17b734749994eed67643a4e4c]

Well, I don’t. Why? Mainly because this is the internet. You get infinite choice. You either like the video you’re watching or you don’t like it. If you do, no way you’ll click on those ads (heck, I guess the ads could get a higher click through if they weren’t dynamic and just considered the main topic, so you could click on them after finishing the video). If you don’t like the video, you just move over to something else. No way you’ll actually STOP the video and move to the ads.

You may tell me it worked for text. Right, but:

1. Rich media has a very different consumption behaviour (ie you’re a lot less likely to jump to the end of the post, you generally either watch it or not – that’s the basic assumption behind TV business model);
2. Text ads can “win” vs some other text (that’s like continuing the conversation with someone else, just like at a club when your friend gets too drunk), it’s a lot tougher vs video (you don’t just turn and continue the conversation with someone else if your friend is agood looking girl: again, either you like her or not);
3. Text ads like Google’s Adsense work because they’re relevant and well integrated into the context. I don’t know about the relevancy, but this looks far from being integrated. What about links right inside the content? Like when you see a nice car you can click on it and be brought to some relevant stuff? This would (maybe) be able to replicate the Adsense success. I know it would be complex and expensive, but this is gonna be a huge business someday.

Bottom line: nice try, but this ain’t gonna save you folks working on ad business. Keep on scratching your head.