Jay Krihak of MediaPost.com says that in order for newspapers to capitalize on the growing popularity of online videos, the industry must set a standard for streaming advertisements.

In a posting Monday, Krihak writes that recent standards established by the Interactive Advertising Bureau will allow "publishers to sell advertising that will be more consistent across sites"; but that these standards should not be binding.

"There will be more YouTubes and Brightcoves and VideoEggs, and many other ways that we will access and consume video (i.e. portable, mobile). Therefore we cannot limit ourselves simply to pre-roll or in-stream overly ads," writes Krihak.

Seventy-five percent of Internet users today watch videos online; within the next five years that number will rise to 88 percent (read more here). The anticipated growth in online viewers makes creating a standard for online video advertising a priority.

Krihak points to the success of the standardization of online display ad units as reason to push forth with a similar standard for videos.

"Until a few years ago this was much like the Wild West...Standardization helped us better compare and contrast media opportunities and streamline productions," writes Krihak.

Source: MediaPost.com