If Web consumers expect free content, they should expect to be interrupted by ads, he says. They're irritated by radio spots, too, and by television spots-but they pay the freight. Despite her reservations, Slack believes there is a place for rich-media ads. Yet she warns that companies should step carefully. In general, she says, consumers find rich-media ads more acceptable on sites where they're expecting to be entertained rather than informed.
Advertisers still face many obstacles to using rich-media campaigns.
Because rich-media ads can be so disruptive, many sites still don't accept them, and most sites set limits on how they can be used. That means they can't be reused as easily as traditional banner ads. Rich-media ads are also more expensive to produce than traditional ads, and many sites charge a premium to run them. He expects costs will fall in the future, though. Of course, it's also possible that the relative effectiveness of rich-media advertising will decline too, as users grow more used to seeing them.