OK, this article in Wired about Google wasting (ok, spending) money at the DNC and RNC conventions this month and next caught my eye. Not because, as usual, Google is attracting people by giving away freebies, but because they are allowing the proletariat to upload videos live during the convention. And, they didn’t call us to put ads on them. I don’t think that these intrepid bloggers can live on smoothies alone.

The problem here is that since Google are making a billion or so dollars every hour (oh, wait, that’s Exxon), they can afford to give away great tsotchkes and therefore get invited to these places. I’m not worried though, I think our time will come

- Jayant Kadambi

Today we announced another YuMe first! We are excited to be the first video ad network to support TickerBoy ads powered by PointRoll. TickerBoy, coming on the heels of our announcement last week that we support Google’s InVideo overlay ads, joins the family of ad products supported by ACE (Adaptive Campaign Engine). TickerBoy is a basic GIF, JPG or Flash banner featured within or adjacent to the video player. When clicked, the video content pauses, and a dynamic rich media experience launches. Check it out.

This morning, Google announced the beta release of AdSense for video, an extension of Google’s revolutionary AdSense program, which powers the contextual advertising on some of your favorite blogs and Web services. As the largest dedicated video advertising network on the Web, we’re thrilled to be participating in the program, which will give our publishers even more opportunities to monetize their content.

Here’s an example of AdSense for video in action on a video from Vidshadow, a YuMe publisher:

We’re most excited about how AdSense for video will integrate with our powerful new technology platform for publishers, YuMe’s Adaptive Campaign Engine (ACE). With ACE and third party networks like AdSense for video, publishers can achieve 100 percent fill rates while maintaining complete control of their inventory, combining their own sales efforts with advertising feeds from third parties to earn the most money possible for each video.

- Molly Glover Gallatin

Google made a quiet announcement earlier this week, announcing several new functions in its TV ad auction service. Something that caught my attention was self-service tools for small advertisers to create their own ads. The Google executive, who made the announcements during an event with the New York Advertising Club, repeated that Google is not getting into the agency business.

It’s an interesting development for a few reasons. First, I think anything that improves the efficiency of television advertising is a good thing. That’s what we’re trying to do here at YuMe with the specialized metrics we offer our customers. Second, the idea of self-serve tools to help small ad buyers is a good one. Web-based tools have made it easier than ever to create original content, edit it and distribute over the Web. For small businesses with small budgets, it’s like unlocking the door to a whole new world.

Finally, there’s the Google factor. Clearly, the company is one of the most recognizable brand names around the globe. The name itself is one that can help raise awareness about the link between Web-based ad services and television-like video. As television continues to have a stronger presence on the Internet, the online ad becomes a bigger component. And eventually that positions a company like YuMe to broaden its exposure.

Jayant Kadmabi

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

TV viewers are headed to the Web more often than before. And as video segments being offered over the Internet start to resemble TV programming more often – in the form of webisodes – some are asking whether viewers will actually go back to the traditional set, especially now that the writers are striking and popular shows will likely turn to reruns to fill their time slots.

On a panel at the Ad:Tech conference in New York earlier this month, Beth Comstock, president for integrated media at NBC Universal, said that “Video has been liberated” from the TV set.

In an article this week, the New York Times notes that emerging online video clips are becoming more regular and more frequent – but aren’t nearly as long as a traditional 30-minute or 60-minute show on TV, a conscious effort driven by the theory that viewers aren’t willing to sit at the computer monitors for such a long time.

The article also notes a handful of shows that are growing in popularity and are getting advertising built in. A MySpace series called “Roommates,” for example, features the Ford Focus while an online show called “Mr. Robinson’s Driving School” on MSN features the Volvo C30.

Jayant Kadambi