NBC.com Shops New Video Ad Units

Written by Steve Donohue

Tuesday, April 28. 2009 at 02:50 PM EDT Post a comment

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In a bid to drive more ad revenue, NBC Universal is pitching media buyers several new advertising units on NBC.com, and allowing viewers to select the type of commercial they'd like to see while watching 30 Rock, Heroes, and other programs.

One of the network's new advertising options -- allowing Web surfers to choose to watch one long ad before the start of a half-hour or hour-long program, instead of a handful of spots running 15 to 30 seconds apiece -- is already used by Hulu LLC , NBC's joint venture with Fox Broadcasting Co.

The new ad units include a "push back" ad, a 300x50 ad that appears under the video window on NBC.com. When users roll over the ad, the unit expands to a 300x250 window. If a user closes the 300x250 unit, the video clip will resume playing.

NBC is even looking to squeeze advertising into the video window when a viewer hits the pause button during a program. Its new pause unit will run a sponsor's ad next to the video window when a user clicks the pause button on the video player.

The network is also pitching media buyers a "pushdown ad" similar to an ad format developed by online advertising network EyeWonder, which expands from the top of the page when a user visits NBC.com. The premium ad unit replaces the full-site arrival ad NBC had previously sold to advertisers.

NBC didn't disclose the pricing of the new advertising units in Tuesday's announcement. Network officials didn't respond to requests for comment.

NBC is still running pre-roll advertisements before its half-hour and hour-long programs. Visitors to the site Tuesday saw 30-second spots from Target, Charles Schwab, and other advertisers.

NBC.com is also allowing users to watch complete episodes on their own Websites with the launch of a "full episode widget" that allows viewers to embed content on their sites. Viewers can also watch programming in a pop-out video player designed to allow them to multitask while watching shows in a compact video window.

While the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and other industry players are looking to create standards for Internet video advertising aimed at driving adoption by media buyers, NBC's move to create new ad formats shows how individual content suppliers are still experimenting with their own ad units.

Much of the development in new formats for video advertising is being driven by "the Pool," an industry group led by Starcom USA, Hulu, and several other technology firms and advertisers. Starcom senior vice president of video innovation Tracey Scheppach told attendees at an IAB conference in New York last week that the Pool had reviewed 30 ad formats in recent months, and compared their effectiveness to traditional 30-second linear TV spots.

Scheppach said the group had narrowed its list of new ad formats to two, and that it hopes to recommend a single video ad format to advertisers after conducting tests this year.