Run pre-roll ads, and potentially lose up to a quarter of your audience

Here's an interesting statistic from those who are fans of embedded video

One of every six users who check out an online video will click away before watching any of the actual video if an advertisement precedes it, according to new research from the video analytics company TubeMogul.

and perhaps even more interesting

That number leaps to about one in four for videos streamed by newspaper and magazine publisher Web sites

"To publishers, these results present a clear tradeoff: run pre-roll ads, and potentially lose up to a quarter of your audience," TubeMogul said. "Coupled with the fact that audiences are not necessarily captive to any particular publisher online, it paints a picture to publishers that is not entirely positive about pre-rolls."

via E&P

Video the way for online ads to go?

Online ads are booming but only if they are attached to video.

According to this report in the New York Times,

CNN.com and ESPN.com are featuring video much more prominently on their home pages, often prompting visitors to press play before they begin to read. Even The Wall Street Journal has moved its video player front and center with a twice-a-day live newscast on WSJ.com.

The reason quite simply is that video is benefiting from the higher cost-per-thousands, or C.P.M.’s, that ads on those videos command.

The attention to video mirrors changes in how consumers are experiencing news. Major events — be it the presidential election or the death of Michael Jackson — bring a surge in video stream viewings by new users, and each time some of them stick around.