And you thought pop-up ads were annoying? Here come the web commercials.

Commercials on the web? You betcha.

"While viewing a content page, a streaming video commercial is downloaded in the background to the user's computer. Once the user exits the page (by clicking on any link on the page, manually inputting a URL, or clicking on a 'favourite'), the video clip is launched immediately and displayed in the same browser window, while the requested next page is being downloaded. Once the requested page is downloaded, the commercial is automatically removed and the requested page is displayed.

The web experience is similar to watching television, where periods of content viewing are interrupted by short video commercial breaks. With the proliferation of "pop up zappers", advertisers are asking for advertising solutions that assure that the advertisement is "in-the-user's-face" without blocking content and which can't be shut off. The joint Clipstream(TM) / COMMFLASH solution is just such a solution, which is not launched in a pop-up / pop-under window, and is thus not affected by pop-zappers. "

There are a few questions you have to ask about this new technology. Will it be used effectively? Have web marketers learned from past experience? Will it end up annoying internet users more than being an effective new way of trapping viewers?

I think, from an advertising point of view, there could be some very cool things done with this. But being a web user, I see the down side. It will be interesting to see if this can not go the way of the pop-up ad.