WebProNews

Disney-ABC Television Group will begin testing next week of running multiple ads with longform online videos on ABC.com.

"It would be premature for us to say people only want one ad," Albert Cheng, executive vp digital media at DATG, told THR. "It's a likely sort of thinking, but we want to push it a little bit to see how it would go."

By increasing the amount of ads online ABC.com hopes to generate as much ad revenue as it does from its on-air programming. Cost-per-thousands are usually higher online because of the targeting of Internet ads, but TV has a much larger audience.

ABC.com's traffic is in line with other broadcasters, but it leads in time spent on the site. It leads its closest competitor, CBS, by three times as much for time spent. The average time spent on ABC.com in March was 47.5 minutes, according to Nielsen.

Cheng says to keep viewers interested in ads they should be created specifically for the Internet and not repurposed commercials from broadcast TV. He pointed to ABC research that revealed better results for ads that promoted interactivity like casual gaming.

"Those who package 30-second spots into the ad pod do poorly," Cheng said. "If research shows that users don't want more ads per break, Disney won't pursue that strategy", he added.