Another day, another overlay ad format. Overlay ad formats seem to be coming out of the woodwork from names such as Videoegg, Google, Adap.tv, Brightcove and now Pointroll. The latest incarnation – Tickerboy – an AOL and Pointroll joint effort, appears 10 seconds into the video roll and dissolves 15 seconds after inactivity, leaving a branded text link. And it offers full interactivity.

Get the Flash Player to see this player.

Fully Interactive!

Phew! The world was presumably suffering from a mere fraction of an interactive ad until now.

But it’s really no one’s fault. There is no IAB or other standard for an interactive overlay or search text link format. So, in the meantime, everyone and their brother are touting a different or unique format. It seems to me, though, that inserting a daily overlay ad format of the week to an already confusing system probably doesn’t help matters.

The bottom line is that all overlay formats have a few basic parameters that still need testing or changing to optimize the user experience and increase the ROI.

With user feedback, the industry can take into consideration several elements of the ad, including: the overlay’s start time and repetition rate, when and how it enters and leaves the screen, the percentage of the video it blocks and its clickability.

But the ad platforms, systems and networks have to allow external control of these parameters if they hope to accelerate the adoption of some standards. That way, advertisers can experiment to see what works and, presumably, make things better.

It seems to me that maybe – just maybe — 10 seconds, followed by 15 seconds may not work for everyone. But that’s just me.

Jayant Kadambi

Ah, the spin. Ask thousands of consumers their thoughts on a particular topic, digest the results and find a way to spin those results into something that makes you say, “hmmm.”

Take, for example, the results of IBM’s End of Advertising Survey, which found that 11 percent of the 2,400 respondents were willing to pay a small fee to watch online video without advertising. Could that mean that a YouTube Premium subscription option soon would be in the works?

So, let’s put our own spin on this. If 11 percent are willing to pay a fee, does that mean that 89 percent of the respondents would not? Sure, we can’t discount those 11 percent who would dig into their pockets for a chance to watch online videos sans advertising. But, as online video continues to evolve and companies both large and small start experimenting with new platforms for distributing that content – such as what we do here at YuMe – it seems that the jury is still out when it comes to determining what viewers are and aren’t willing to watch.

The idea behind a premium service that removes advertising isn’t crazy – after all, look at the popular of HBO-like networks. But 11 percent seems like an awfully small number to consider when developing business strategies. Let’s give it some more time to see what works and what doesn’t – and how audiences, advertisers and content publishers interact with each other on this new medium.

Jayant Kadambi