The new age of advertising affords many opportunities for advertisers to grab our attention that could never have been explored in the past.

With online video, advertising fills the screen around the video, before the video, after the video and even on the video, attracting prospective customers and annoying everyone else.

Pre-roll ads – or the 10-30 second segments that must be viewed before the video – are among the most controversial, simultaneously representing some of the most irritating and the most effective ads on the net.

Listen in to this week’s podcast on the good, bad and ugly of pre-roll advertising!

Here are a few of the reports mentioned in the audio:

• The Wall Street Journal reports on Google’s pressuring of YouTube to include pre-roll ads.
• YouTube fans report back that the pre-roll platform doesn’t float their boat.
• Podcasting News breaks down the love-hate relationship of these controversial online ads.

What are your thoughts? Give me a comment below if you’ve ever clicked through a pre-roll ad or clicked out of that web page all-together.