Beyond running video in ad banners, the next step many marketers have already taken is buying ad inventory attached to video content on the web. This can be done from a number of different sources: publishers directly, video ad networks, and the more hybrid video companies that offer video-related services and products beyond in-stream video.

Publishers
With regard to publishers, when you plan and buy media and want to run video, you can request video inventory as part of the media programs with each site via the RFP. Many more publishers are able to offer video as part of their suite of services. The majority of sites offering video include news, sports, music, and entertainment sites. National and local TV and newspaper sites are driving a ton of video content, as well. When incorporating video, know that the CPMs will be higher than typical banners inventory. But with these CPMs, you typically will get the video impression as well as the companion ad near/surrounding that video.

Here is a great example on Yahoo! Music where Nissan presents Yahoo Music's Live Sets. This is a sponsorship where Nissan has branding across the entire music player experience including pre-roll ads as well as two companion ads (one for the sponsorship, the other promoting Nissan product).

Also in the publisher camp are video aggregators. So you will have sites like Mee Vee, an up-and-coming site that allows users to use Mee Vee as their video portal and aggregate all the video content related to their interests. This could include TV shows, music videos, news and sports clips and user-generated video. Sites like TV Guide and TV.com also are following in Mee Vee's footsteps but are still in development of this enhanced offering. Additionally, there are the likes of YouTube and Revver who are big players in the aggregator space. However, their focus is more in the user-generated space versus professional content (though clearly a lot of professional content has hit these sites as is evident in the many lawsuits by the major networks to either partner with these sites or sue them). You can approach all of these players and find some very compelling marketing opportunities beyond the basics including product integration, skinned pages/video players and much more.

Networks
Within the network space, there are a number of players in this increasingly crowded market. You have Tremor Media, Broadband Enterprises, The Fifth Network and many more including mainstream networks such as Advertising.com. All of these networks offer in-stream video in one form or another, so best to approach the major video network players and learn what they have to offer. (More on networks in a few.)

Additionally, there are companies like Brightcove, which are very strong in the video space, and provide not only in-stream video, but also many other products/offerings. (More on that also later on.)

Up until recently, a majority of in-stream video consisted of pre-roll ads, ads that played prior to the video content launching. And they were also mostly 30-second spots, with most advertisers amortizing their TV assets and translating them to the web. They are typically accompanied by companion banner ads near the video where users can click through and continue their interactive experience with the brand.

Now, the trend is moving toward shorter ads -- best practices now say 5 to 10 seconds -- and is often a combination of an intro sponsorship/bumper of 5 seconds with a mid-roll or post-roll ads; with those ads being what you would expect, ads running midway or at the end of the video content. And also, many advertisers are starting to cut specific video for the web. Rather than taking assets already in existence for TV, it is best to create assets that are more web-friendly and interactive. In fact, many will take advantage of their video shoots for TV to capture content that they can edit and modify for the web, which has proven to be much more effective. With the fragmentation of content on the web and the ability of the consumer to take control, it is imperative that the content of your video message is informative, entertaining and something that consumers are open to receiving.