Just In: Video Ads

Google AdWords advertisers can now advertise on your site with video ads as a new addition to the line up of text, Flash and image adverts currently available according to the AdWords blog. If you have selected image ads, you are able to receive these new video ads. There are 2 ways to make money from them - CPM - Cost per thousand impressions and CPC - Cost Per Click with CPM ads being charges per 100 views of the starting image and CPC ads being charged per click through to the website (not just playing the ads). The adverts do not start playing automatically - only when they are clicked on. Currently there is no way to opt out of video ads but soon there may be.
Is this really a revenue increasing ad unit or just something flashy that takes ages to load?

How to get them: They can't guarantee that video ads will appear on your site. However, if you want to make sure video ads could appear on your site, there are actually 3 ad formats that currently support them:

1. 300x250 Medium Rectangle
2. 336x280 Large Rectangle
3. 250x250

also you need to opt into both text and image ads.

In the coming days, we will be adding click-to-play video ads to the
line-up of text, Flash and image ad formats currently
supported by the Google content network. At launch, video ads will be available
to AdWords advertisers in the US, Canada and Japan - but we plan to roll them
out to other regions shortly.Now, let's talk about the details.First, as with
all AdWords ad formats, video ads will compete for
placement on sites in the Google content network with other text, Flash and
image ads -- and, as with our other image ad placements, you can choose to bid
on a CPC or CPMbasis.
Second, these ads will be supported by both site- and keyword-targeted
campaigns. You can choose to serve your video ad on a specific site or on pages
in our content network that relate to your product or service. As always, you
have the ability to geo-target
your video ads internationally, nationally, or locally.Finally, unlike some
intrusive advertising, users will have complete control. When a page loads, only
a static image will be visible; the video will not start playing until the user
initiates it. He or she will be able to advance the video, pause it, adjust the
volume or click through to the advertiser's site, as you can see in the example
below:
But, you may say, video is only for big branding oriented advertisers.
We beg to differ. This feature makes video ads much more accessible to all
advertisers. Now, an owner of a small bed & breakfast in Lake Tahoe can put
a video tour of his beautiful chalet right next to an article that talks about
skiing the epic slopes of Squaw Valley.
[Google AdWords blog]