Youtube and several other video sites used to be ad free for the longest time. And thus the internet had one more reason to be greater than anything else on the planet. But just like TV now, there seems to be ads all over the place.

I understand the point of such marketting, but what I specifically want to know the effectivness of it.

Because of this, I now ask you: Has any company anywhere EVER gotten your business due to these ads before streaming videos online?

Hmm. I never even notice them. If an ad or something comes up, I always have work to do or a book to read while it runs. Plus, not having sound 90% of the time, it's not like I hear them either.

I was thinking about this when looking at Dray's thread for "Book of Naughty." It's a little hard not noticing it, really.

Specially since I can't get this image out of my mind:

I'm.... kinda conflicted on that image, really. On one hand, yum, on the other, too bad there's women in the background.

LEAVE IT TO THUTMOSE TO MENTION HOW GAY HE IS AT EVERY TURN.

As long as these are the adds that automatically come on right before the video clip (as opposed to clicking banners) sometimes I will intentionally watch the adds as the price I pay for the otherwise free content. I know some people think that is ridiculous but I appreciate the exchange. To me most of the time it is a small price to pay. I don't recall ever seeing an add though that has gotten me to actually buy something but it is hard to tell how often one is influenced by adds. I mean there is a movie out there that is advertised everywhere (cars, candy bars, etc.) and I am not going to go see the movie but I know it is a sequel playing right now and who it is starring. I can't say the same about other movies out there also currently playing.

Your internet isn't free. Unless, of course, you are leeching off a neighbor's wireless.

I pay $65 a month for 12mb down. And ad block plus gets most of the ads around pages, but in-video ads can't be blocked. And I know you probably have conters to my points, but I just don't care to deal with them. I just simply want to know if these ads have made money off of anyone.

The money you pay for your internet access goes to the ISP - not the content providers, who are the ones trying to make money by showing adds.

The content is free, net access isn't. The price of free content? Watching advertisements; which helps the content providers pay for all the things they need to pay for to continue providing content without directly charging the consumer.

Without online advertising, Google would go out of business - that's how they make all their money.

And advertising is the lifeblood of the internet.

Then this goes back to my original question. If absolutely no one is purchasing products in said advertisments... then...

There must be people buying from these advertisements. Probably the same people who click on those links in spam, on banner ads, etc.

That's what I was thinking as well... and I was somewhat expecting the polls to at least have one person who would at least prove that it does, in fact, work. Granted, only 5 votes isn't saying much, but still. I really wish I could ask a large group of people... like the polls at gamefaqs or something.

I read these a while back. Might be interesting for you.

http://www.zephoria.org/thoughts/archiv ... _on_a.html

http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/heavy_clickers.php

I'm sure you could find lots more on the subject.

I voted "no", but at the same time, I'm not much affected by actual TV ads, either. But I think TV ads have a better chance of getting my attention, as I'm used to them and am more willing to pay attention to them, while in-video ads is a new thing and you're just waiting for the darned things to finish.

I don't watch much TV (live TV with commercials, that is). But when I do, I mute the TV the very second the screen goes black (i.e. the transition tot he first commercial) and leave it that way until the show starts again. In the mean time, I just work or read.

It's been quite a while since I've seen any commercial with sound.

The stuff advertised on TV doesn't appeal to me anyway. When was the last time you saw a commercial for a non-fiction book?

They have commercials for books?

Neither should the online ones as well, seeing they are the same thing.

Revenue from ads, especially ones embedded in video, isn't quite so tangible as you seem curious about.

Think of it like handing out a business card. The company is spending money to get their name out there. Sometimes, though rarely, they may get an immediate sale. Most of the time all they do is get, although minutely, noticed.

The difference between business cards and video ads, though, is that the people who that ad belongs to are only paying the money for the display of that ad once for each time it is seen. In this way, it's up to the site displaying the ad and the users that go to that site and see the ad to bring in the revenue from it.

With business cards, all the money is paid up front for the cards and the person who owns the card bears all the responsibility for getting it out there.

Neither do any good if still no one buys the product in question, though. I understand how the system works up until it's on the users side. I don't consider myself anything special and think I'm pretty normal as far as a consumer is concerned, and if most people are like me, they've never went out and gotten a thing due to seeing something play before a video online.

I guess, the thing is that the companies can't really find out how effective their ads are unless somehow the customer tells the company they became interested in their product due to said ad. Otherwise, it seems like more of a liability than anything else. I'm just not seeing it. Sales due to video ads can't possibly be worth the cost to put them out there... and end users probably hate them anyways.

What interests me is the fact that, more often than not, these video ads appear on the videos of people who are partnered. Us folks who are just hanging out for free are only affected by flash ads sitting by the side.

Well, I watch partnered videos as well. So I'm still affected never the less.

Also, you can get rid of all flash and image based ads with firefox plugins. The only ads I see at Youtube are within the videos only.