Google Video Ads in Search - Annoying or Kinda Cool?

The New York Times blog, BITS broke the story last week that Google is now testing video ads in search results in order to offer even more diverse opportunities and media expansion for AdWords advertisers. Google has been offering pay-per-click video ads on the Content, or AdSense, Network since 2006, but never has there been the option to show the ads in Google search results. With the advent of last year's Universal Search index where videos, news feeds, and images were incorporated, attention has been further divided with images and videos winning and text ads leaving cooler spots in the heat map. "The eyes of users automatically gravitate to the images more than the text," According to Marissa Mayer, vice president of search products and user experience. Traditional listings and ppc ads compete for attention in Google's search results with video links from YouTube, MySpace Video, and images, so it is only appropriate, she argues, that their be corresponding advertising formats. Fortunately, Google has eased into being able to offer paid opportunities outside of 72 character text ads and this should be no surprise to users or advertisers. How will the ads integrate? Apparently the video ads will be accessed through clicking on a plus sign (+) next to the corresponding company text ad, similar to Google Maps' address plus sign seen in organic listings for brick and mortar companies. Still inline with Google's philosophy to provide unobtrusive, highly relevant advertising, Mayer preemptively answers concerns that Google is about to go too far. "If you search for golf clubs, you get ads for golf clubs, not a banner ad about Pepsi that you may drink on the golf course," Ms. Mayer said. So far no screenshots have been provided to corroborate Google's experimentation. Some purists will still be remain opposed, some even threatening to use another search engine. Here are some comments from the blogosphere:

The day Google launches this is the day I stop using Google. It is the duty of every American to avoid as much advertising as possible so that our economy has something to do. - Posted by Walter

This is the last straw. I'll never use Google again and their servers are going in my hosts file. Oh, for the days when they swore that they would NEVER be anything other than a Web search engine! - Posted by Joe Dixon

Others feel more positive, or OK with the development.

If it's done carefully & leaves the user in control it could be ok. It's possible to do non-intrusive video ads as long as they don't autoplay, don't take up too much of the screen and are clear as to what they are. Here's hoping it isn't too bad, anyhow. - Posted by imma

Watching a few ads is not a big price for Google's superb services. Besides, those ads are context-sensitive. - Posted by AB

What do you think?