Aren’t you glad you bought a mobile phone? How do you use it? You wouldn’t happen to actually be talking to someone, would you? Because there are an ever-increasing number of companies and relationships that are hoping that you don’t want to do something as mundane as communicating by voice with another person.

For most brand advertisers, success is ultimately measured after the completion of an advertising campaign — often much later. Depending on the nature of the product or service (for example, a movie premiere vs. a CPG product launch being at the two extremes), it can take time to measure market share gains, units sold and so on. Online video can be an interesting testing ground for brands due to the variety of interaction rates available, providing an early snapshot or preview on the branding effect.

Direct response in online video advertising is fast becoming a reality. Whether advertisers are looking to generate sales, sign-ups, coupon downloads, or any action, online video advertising is a new and effective way to enhance off and online DR efforts.

Recently, I was asked to speak at a Digital Summit conducted by a major brand marketer for the benefit of its brand teams — eager to learn more about how to use broadband video. Never reluctant to help educate and grow the category, I eagerly took the advertiser up on its invite. What was astounding to me, as I stared out into the audience of glassy-eyed brand managers, marketing managers, associate and assistant brand managers fresh off their latest TV campaign, sales promotion or packaging refresh, was the very baseline level of digital aptitude they had about interactive advertising overall.

The meeting was starting to get interesting. The creative agency had just presented to the client what they would charge to come up with a concept for a 90-second, online video commercial. The cost-controller on the client side, who had been listening silently, now had center stage. Not surprisingly, he was making the best of it; slicing and dicing like a Benihana chef. Number of people on the job, hours against, agency time sheets, all being gutted by the cost-controller. The agency was taking a beating, and when the cost-controller finally sat down, the proposed fee lying in tatters, the agency’s Managing Director stood up. “Agreed,” he said. The cost-controller looked up, perplexed…

For a good two years now, pre-roll has been one of the most debated topics in blogs, trade publications, panel discussions and conference rooms alike. Pre-roll is one of those things that industry folks either love or hate. Recently, a new round of articles are proclaiming the format’s imminent death. Concurrent with this trend has been the introduction of the “new” pre-roll –overlays — that many (VCs included) are betting will be the future of online video advertising.

Video advertising is not just about pricing pre-rolls or overlays, inventory accessibility, sales lead cycles or debate over when critical mass of advertiser uptake will occur. Video advertising is about performance, whether an advertiser measures it by awareness, traffic or converting site visitors to sales or leads.

Imagine. You like cars. Fast cars. Racing cars. And, one day, you’re given the keys to an Aston Martin DB9. But it gets better — you can drive as fast as you want. No speeding tickets, no traffic –in fact, no one else is on the road. But wait, it gets even better: there’s unlimited gas. It’s a six-lane highway and you can weave around as much as you want because, again, there’s no one else on it….

Online video entertainment sites offer a variety of opportunities for advertisers to engage consumers. As the industry continues to develop, advertising creative should become more compelling and further integrated into the online experience.

Two of the largest growth areas in online advertising have been, and are projected to be, behavioral targeting (BT) and video. BT is a must-include for virtually every digital campaign and is projected to grow to a $4.8 billion market by 2012 (eMarketer stat). Online video is generally accepted to be the medium in which the biggest global advertisers will be shifting much of their future overall ad spend — sooner rather than later, assuming ad formats keep pace. Naturally, combining the proven performance of BT with the as-yet-unlocked potential of online video, seems like a match made in heaven — but one that most agree is likely one to three years away.