Here at WinCustomize, we rely heavily on Google's AdSense program to help support the site and offset costs.  They do much better than the older style of ads which were image or animation based pieces that were distributed to a wide variety of sites, with no concern for site content.  Google ads take content off the page to figure out the most relevant advertisements to display.  The results are advertisements that might actually be worthwhile to users who view the site.  The most widely recognized Google Ad is the text advertisement:

This is an example image and NOT AN ACTUAL AD

Recently though, Google has branched out to include image ads as well.  You probably don't notice these as being Google Ads since they look more or less like any other banner ad you've seen on the web for nearly a decade now.  Aside from a thin string at the bottom of the banner saying "Ads by Google", there's nothing to visually differentiate them.

Now though, Google is expanding into the realm of video-based advertisements.  You've seen these on sites like CNet News, CNN.com etc.  The most widely viewed is probably the Mac v PC ads from Apple.  They usually show the first frame or play a few seconds of the video without sound until clicked on by the user.  As Google expands the ad service, they've picked a few high-profile sites to participate in the pilot program.  Now, sites such as The Wall Street Journal online, Life/Style Television, Epicurious.com and Style.com will begin carrying these video ads soon.

Video ads are the "next big thing" in online advertising.  Are they annoying?  Better or worse than current ad units?  Can Google do it better than others?