Video website launches new ad model

Video-on-demand company QIYI announced Wednesday it has developed a cool new way to embed content-linked ads into videos, which the Baidu Inc-owned company hopes will boost online advertising revenue.

The technology, which QIYI claims is new to China, allows online video viewers to click on tiny text boxes to get ad details about, for example, the Mercedes Benz that is screeching across their computer screen.

The textbox will appear no longer than five seconds, Wang Xiangjun, general manager of the sales department with QiYi. com, said Wednesday.

Such ads for WangLaoJi Herbal Tea and personal-care brand Dove are already in use, Wang said. Around 50 percent of film viewers click the textbox partly out of pure curiosity, "so it's more effective than other types of Internet ads."

In 2010, online video advertising revenue accounted for 7.8 percent of total online ad revenues, according to iResearch, an Internet-based consultancy.

"The market share of online video advertising will keep on growing in the future, since Internet users spend more time on video websites, so more advertisers are beginning to set sights on this area," Cao Junbo, chief research director with iResearch, said Wednesday.