Google has been experimenting Expandable Ads for a while. But, flash based Expandable ads is not something new. Back in 2005, I have seen many expandable ads in Yahoo homepage. In recent years, the peel off expandable ads at top right corner is currently quite popular. You can find similar expandable ad in Marketing Pilgrim site at the top-right corner.
Google Adwords also introduced Expandible ads back in 2009. Adsense users may have seen such ads. But with Youtube, the Expandable Video Ad is something new and quite innovative.
Have a look at these videos by clicking the images (it might take time if you have slower connection):
Expandables (The Movie) Ad on YouTube
This video is an example of typical Expandable YouTube ad. The name of the movie is co-incidental 🙂
A Hunter Shoots a Bear – Tipp-Ex Ad on YouTube
This is more interactive and connected with many other videos. The bear and the hunter also started their page in Facebook, which already gained many fans.
The Desperados Experience
Like the hunter shoots a bear, this video also has many versions, which you can choose at the beginning. You actually can play around with the playbar in the video and make various actions suggested in the video. Moreover, the video is loaded with many social media call-to-actions in their flash interface.
Tostitos Lady – And Then There was Salsa Ad on Vimeo
This is one of the cool and colorful Expandable Video Ad I have seen. But, this is not from Youtube, rather from Vimeo.
Expandable Video Ads are relatively new trend, but there are here to stay for long. In near future, we might also see expandable video ads in adwords.