Some of the sites I visit seem to be showing google served video ads. Is this new? I found it on the celebrity gossip site: http://www.thesuperficial.com/ The code for the ad looks like standard AdSense code. Pretty cool. Nice to see new products.
After the 3rd story there is a google ad block. It was there, in that spot. It was there this moring. Now it looks like a regular google ad. I watched a video ad this morning. I clicked it to see the source, and it asked if I would let google access my mic, etc. I checked the source code and everything. Just found it again.... now on this page: http://www.thesuperficial.com/archives/2006/03/28/holmes_gearing_up_for_silent_b_1.html It is an ad for "life Sessions" a new TV show on TLC. and says "Ads by Google" right on it. You may need to refresh until you see it.
I've seen them for a few months now, it is part of their rich media beta test for select publishers. I should also mention most (or quite possibly all) of these video ads are being served to US visitors only.
How do you get paid for video ads ? watch the whole movie for $1.00, half the movie $.50, click only $.10. Some people might watch until they figure out it's an ad then click back.
I have also heard that they are doing some rich media beta testing. It is most likely to be that type of ad that you had seen.
I saw that, looks interesting. Could be cool. I wonder what kind of CTR and eCPM it gives. Could be terrific.
No, I don't think they would ever do that. I think it is there so that the user can click it so that more of the ad can be seen. It will not redirect to the advertisers site until the click somewhere else on the ad. I'm not 100% sure though, but this is what I normally see.