Hi, I’m Mark Fears, Director of Product Management at RipCode and a new voice on the RipCode blog.  This first post was inspired when I read an interesting news release this week from Maven Networks on the Streaming Media website, about the formation of a new Online TV Advertising organization that’s dedicated to researching technology to enhance the user experience for Internet video ads. The new organization features such heavy hitters as Microsoft, Maven, Fox News Digital, TV Guide and DoubleClick. While some may find online video ads an annoyance, you need to look beyond the typical 15-second commercial spot and think about the big financial picture. After all, online video sites have to monetize their content in order to create a financially viable business, and thus stay in business.  So advertising is as necessary to online video as it is to television programming.  But what I am pleased to hear is that one of the goals of this new organization is “creating engaging and appealing user experiences”.

Like anyone, I find that online video ads can be a barrier to the instant gratification that I have come to expect from my online experience. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t really mind sites funding their online presence with advertising but I don’t like being forced to watch advertising that focuses on something in which I have no interest.

However with the power of online video and the tools available to developers, there is no reason to have the same impersonal 30-second commercial that we suffer through during primetime TV. For example, I sat through an Adobe presentation at the IBC2007 show in Amsterdam and saw some interesting technology that they’re enabling through their new Adobe Media Player. There is a beta version available online at http://labs.adobe.com. These new tools allow you to embed a sprite in the corner of the video. On the surface, it may not sound like much, but it does allow me to immediately watch the content I selected without waiting for the advertiser to get their screen time. With this technology, the ad ran as a small image in a corner of the video allowing me to view the desired content immediately.

But the real power of this technology was that the ad sprite actually pertained to the video content that I was viewing. For example, if I was watching the weather forecast for an upcoming trip I have to Florida, the ad sprite could be promoting sunscreen or some other relevant product I might need for my trip. And, not only could the product relate to the video content, it’s also a click-able link that opens a shopping cart and allows you to drop in the product ready for an immediate online transaction.

Now that is making advertising a personal and engaging experience which is what online video is all about!