In May 2008 comScore report that  the average online video viewer watched 235 minutes of video over the course of the month.  Adding up to over 11B videos viewed.  Online video is a big thing — and it’s still only the beginning.  Once the family’s TV set starts to connect directly to the internet things will get really interesting.

But for now there are a couple ways to leverage online video to advertise:

Pre-Roll: Your video ad unit plays before the video content.  CNN is doing a lot of this now.

Overlay: Your ad unit is displayed at the bottom of the video as it plays.

Post Roll: Your ad unit is played at the end of the video content.

Sponsorship: Your display and text ads surround the video content.  Often used in conjunction with other video ad opportunities.

Interstitial: Your video ad unit is played in the middle of the video content.  Often used for long format online video.  Your ad plays like a broadcast tv spot.

Pre-roll Ad Unit