As I said in a really old post, I’m going to start putting videos on a site like blip.tv someday soon. Naturally, I’ve been paying extra attention to how other sites have been implementing video ads. In that last post I just talked about some video streaming sites. Now we get to the meat of my current interest, online video with ads.

This isn’t meant to be seen as a comprehensive guide of all sites and different types of online ads, just a few notes and thoughts regarding the way I’ve seen some sites display ads. For extra fun, picture me saying it in the whiny, meandering voice of Andy Rooney.

As I’m getting closer and closer to posting videos to an online video service like blip.tv, I’m starting to pay closer attention to how a lot of major content providers are…um, providing their content. In-browser. I’m looking more at how they handle ads, but I’ll start my small observations with a few without advertising: Amazon, Netflix, and G4. More observations on other services in a later post.

A little over 2 weeks ago, I posted an article called, “But…I’m a PC Gamer,” about Infinity Ward’s direct porting of Modern Warfare 2 to PC, and addressing people claiming this could mean the death of PC games.

Generally, certain advanced options are given to PC games, such as use of an in-game command console and the ability to host servers for multiplayer games. On the PS3 and Xbox 360, online multiplayer games are usually populated using an automated matchmaking system.

I stressed that being able to choose what servers I play on is very important to me:

In server-hosted online games, any group can create a static server, for which they set the rules. They can kick off and ban cheaters and troublemakers, they can use experimental maps or weapons, or even ensure the game is as “vanilla” as possible. These benefits are what make online gaming fun for me.

However, I reasoned that match-made games are okay for console gaming, and I’ve played Uncharted 2 online without any problems, so matchmaking instead of hosted servers might not be so bad.

Then I saw this post by Les on Stupid Evil Bastard, entitled ‘Infinity Ward has fucked over “Call of Duty” fans who play on the PC.’ Guess where he falls on the issue? Unlike me, Les has actually played Modern Warfare 2 on PC, here’s what he said about the experience: