In a survey of a representative cross-section of 950 Americans, participants were asked about their views of various online advertising media. The break down:

• 55% took a “strongly negative” view of pop-ups and pop-unders.
• 31% were strongly negative on online video ads. (As MediaPost notes, “That’s an easy win against infamously annoying ad formats.”)
• 27% took a strongly negative view of “advergames.” (Which, I think, would have been higher had they known what the heck you’re talking about. C’mon, taze the gnome games are less annoying?)
• 21% were strongly negative on skyscraper ads.
• 18% had a negative view of banner ads.

While online video can still chant, “We’re number two!”, it’s not a good sign: MediaPost says the number of annoyed consumers has been increasing over time. Manatt said, “In the early days of rich media, it was much more effective than non-rich media in getting consumers’ attention. But now there’s essentially no difference.”

MediaPost offers some tips on effective video ads:

While the medium is still evolving, Manatt advised the audience on some tentative rules for online video advertising. She countered widespread criticism of the pre-roll ad model by noting that consumers are much less likely to accept a long ad in the middle of a news clip, with 70% saying they’d rather see it at the beginning. By the same token, consumers are willing to watch a longer pre-roll video ad if they’re trying to watch a longer clip.

Of course, if you ask consumers whether or not they like ads, they’ll tell you no every time. While we’ve reported that “Nearly nine in 10 Americans said they were less likely to buy products that had annoying or offensive ads,” that doesn’t mean that we should stop advertising altogether.

75% of people say they’re overexposed to advertising—but those same people will tell you that having ads sent to them is better than using search engines to find products and businesses. Sometimes I wonder if people really know what they want.

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This isn’t exactly a conservative prediction – Liz Gannes did the math and writes, “That’s after a 72 percent compound annual growth rate for the next five years, building on total spending of $471 million this year.”  And 72 percent annual growth is the sort of thing that only Google, the industry’s financial rock star, is usually able to achieve.

Furthermore, Gannes notes, “Screen Digest, which hasn’t been particularly enthusiastic about video revenues in general, thinks user-generated video will be worth $956 million in 2011.  iSuppli is putting its money on professionally produced video, predicting revenues will hit $5.9 billion in 2011.”

Still, Forrester Research isn’t some sort of reckless cheerleader; it’s been around since 1983, and its video ad estimate stemmed from a survey of over 300 marketing professionals.

Also, with announcements coming in on a weekly (or even daily) basis from companies like Joost, Blinkx, and Veoh, it’s even less difficult to believe Forrester’s numbers.

The survey found that 75 percent of respondents said they were watching more online video than they did a year ago and 52 percent anticipated watching more online video over the next year,

The survey, sponsored by AOL and Google, also found a general acceptance among users for online video ads. Sixty-three percent said they favor having video sites include ads to keep the content free.

"This study confirms that consumers accept video advertising in exchange for a free viewing experience, which is good news for advertisers," said David Klein, Vice President of TNS. "As with advertising across all media, if the video advertising is relevant, it can contribute to and enhance an engaging media experience, not impair it."

Eighty-four percent of respondents said they watch online videos when its convenient, and 57 percent said that online video offers a lot of control over content. Over half (54%) said they often view videos sent to them by friends and family, while 47 percent said they like sharing online video with others.

"The online video viewing experience puts the viewer in the driver’s seat, allowing the user to decide not only what they see and when, but also enabling them to easily share content with others with the click of a mouse," added Klein.

"For marketers, targeting and segmentation can play a critical role in ensuring video advertisements are equally engaging as the content consumers are viewing. This gives marketers the opportunity to build compelling and viral brand experiences."

When it comes to online video ads 78 percent of respondents said that online video ads provide as good of a chance to learn about an advertiser as TV. Sixty-four percent said they had taken some action after seeing an online video ad, including visiting a company’s Web site (44%), searching for more information about a product or service (33%), going to a bricks & mortar store to look at a product (22%), or talking to friends/family about the product (21%).

"These statistics have a compelling message for marketers: just by leveraging the online video medium for communicating a message, your company’s brand benefits," notes Klein from TNS.

Users on media sites are more likely than those on portals or user-generated sites to act on video ads. Over one third of consumers on magazine (38%), newspaper (37%) and online-only news (35%) sites say they have looked for more information after watching a video ad.

About one quarter of users searched for more information after watching a video on a portal (27%) or UGC (24%) site. Around one-quarter of consumers on magazine (29%) and online-only news (26%) sites went to a store to look at a product after watching a video ad, while only 17 percent on portal sites and UGC sites did so.

Overall, 80 percent of all video viewers have watched an online video ad and 52 percent have taken some type of action such as visiting a related Web site (31%), searching for more information (22%), going to a store (15%) or making a purchase (16%).

Out of 80 percent of viewers who watched an online video ad over half took some type of action. Close to a third had visited a related Web site, while 22 percent looked for more information, 15 percent had gone to a store and 12 percent made a purchase.

"With online video firmly entrenched in the mainstream, marketers need to understand what works for driving key advertising metrics," said Pam Horan, OPA president. "Frames of Reference identifies the most important factors — from ad length to the impact of adjacent content — that can improve video advertising effectiveness."

PointRoll examined how online video advertising is useful to brand marketers, and discovered that interactivity can increase the time viewers spend with brands. When a video ad included some form of interactivity such as buttons to click to find out more, it created an increase in the average brand interaction time.

eMarketer Senior Analyst David Hallerman said, "This is the kind of data that each company needs to measure for its own brand and its own campaign."

"While useful as a starting point, average interaction rates or increases in branding metrics such as awareness or intent to buy depend significantly on the marketer’s objectives, the stage in a brand’s life (introduction or longtime, say), where the video runs (which Web sites and pages) and what format delivers the message."

Rebroadcasts are proving beneficial for TV show sponsors who support hosting on the TV shows sites. This will likely grow the online video advertising beyond its current status.

Viewers who access content through TV networks sites are more likely to pay attention to the brands that sponsor that content. They also have a higher level of engagement with downloaded video on network sites and are more willing to watch those same shows on traditional TV, according to a new study by Knowledge Networks.

Close to half (49%) of TV network Web site viewers say that sponsorship of a downloaded episode would increase their consideration of the sponsoring brand.

Users of downloaded network video are significantly more likely than Internet users overall (30% vs.22%) to make purchases from companies that advertise on their favorite programs.

Viewers find the Internet a convenient way to watch TV episodes they may have missed. A quarter of viewers of downloaded network TV video say they watch regular TV shows more often because of what they have seen on Internet video.

“For the most part, features on network and program Web sites are building equity with program viewers, for both the TV networks and their advertisers,” noted David Tice of Knowledge Networks. “There is much room to grow this crossover TV-Web audience.”

When it comes to revenue, paid search leads the way. As for growth rates, online video advertising is set to increase in the next several years.

 David Hallerman, an eMarketer senior analyst projects that by 2011 video ad spending will be over $4 billion.

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