A recent survey by DoubleClick sought out to determine what were the most hated ad formats.  Pop ups was the number one choice.  In fact, with the mild exception of banners, online rich media advertising is not popular at all.  Is this the much feared death of creative advertising?  Are the SEO pundits right?

Not when you look at the ads that consumers themselves see as most effective.  Word of mouth, not surprisingly, scored the number one slot.  Traditional advertising formats in television, magazines, and catalogs rounded out the top 5.  In other words the fanciest and glossiest ads around are still as effective as ever.  And the younger the respondents are, the more they see television ads as effective.  So why can you interrupt the experience of watching television with a fancy ad, and not the experience of the internet?

User behavior and user expectation are far different.  Television comes on at specific times of the week, it forces you to watch in a linear fashion, and it demands nothing of you beyond sitting.

Also, some television is actually good.  It has high production value.  Professionals write it, act in it, direct it and photograph it.  The experience of a television program is obviously rewarding enough that it’s worth sitting through a few ads.

People go online to find information, be social, or a few minutes diversion.  If your ad is an interruption of that process, then clearly you are being intrusive.  The ad isn’t part of the experience, it’s a distraction.

Not only is web based content different, a lot of it is also bad.  Any break in the experience of consuming it makes it instantly not worth while.  For much of what is online there has to literally be no user cost beyond their connection or it won’t work.

I recently signed up for the unlimited streaming on Netflix.  $8.99 a month, tons of movies and good TV (Weeds is phenomenal), watchable-if-not-great quality.  Would I pay $8.99 for YouTube?  No.  Would I pay $2.99? No.  To paraphrase Mark Cuban, at some point you stop caring about the free couch you found in the alley. You want something nice enough that you actually have to pay for it.  If consumers are having to pay something in terms of being exposed to advertising the context of that ad, the content surrounding it, has to be worth the price.

I do think there are combinations that work.  Destination sites built either around user generated content or  high-quality professional content can gain viral traction and be attractive enough to allow sponsorship. Online video producers use television distribution tactics like time slots to generate interest, and sponsored online series are workable. The right quality of media can pull people towards online destinations and allow positive brand interactions.  Rich media context allows rich media advertising.

Related and interesting article here.