You know those ads that pop up when you're not expecting them when you mouse over a double-underlined word on a webpage? Well now imagine that ad pop up isn't just more text but a video. VibrantMedia is moving beyond text ads with its IntelliTxt ad links and adding video to them. Vibrant has signed up 1,000 publishers to display the new units, which have been put through their paces by a number of advertisers already. One of those experimenting was Warner Bros., which says it's pleased with the results. An advertiser is only charged when viewers click through to the their homepage, which the WB exec is quoted as saying helps make the platform profitable for them. Forbes last year dropped out of using the IntelliTxt ads over concerns that putting ads within the editorial text blurred the distinction between the two.

My major problem with this isn't the intrusive video. It's the fact that it's being sold as just another outlet through which to recycle existing assets like TV commercials. God forbid we try to be a little innovative.