• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, December 3, 2015

Yahoo is testing a full-bleed auto-play version of a video ad in its search results pages -- a move that will grab viewers' attention, although it may be intrusive. The video ad unit serves up when searching on one brand's name.

The ad unit, which serves up a video advertisement from Land's End, runs at the top of the search results page across the entire browser window, and temporarily pushes down other query results. The message: Happy Holidays. The film by Bruce Weber.

The move toward integrating video into search query results began in 2009, when the company tested the sponsored search tool Rich Ads In Search with a select number of national brand advertisers, including Pedigree, Pepsi, and Esurance.

The search ads are being served through Yahoo Gemini, the company's marketplace for search and native advertising. 

"We're continuously developing and testing new ways to enhance our products for advertisers, but we don’t have anything to announce at this time," says a Yahoo spokesperson.

It's also not clear whether Yahoo's BrightRoll technology plays a role in supporting the ad unit. In November 2014, Yahoo took steps to acquire the programmatic video ad platform for $640 million, and earlier this year the company united its programmatic technology under the brand.

Yahoo is not the only search engine that has tested some type of video ad in search results. Google and Microsoft Bing have also done so in the past.

Meanwhile, Yahoo's test comes at a time of uncertainty about the company's future. A series of board meetings this week could determine whether the company’s Internet businesses will be sold off, and how to make the most of its stake in Chinese e-commerce powerhouse Alibaba Group. The board was expected to discuss options beginning Dec. 2.

Worldwide digital ad spending will reach $170.17 billion in 2015 -- up from $144.15 in 2014, according to eMarketer estimates.  In 2015, Yahoo's share of the worldwide search ad market will fall to 2.1% this year, from 2.5% in 2014, per the data firm. In the U.S. this year, eMarketer expects Yahoo to take 4.8% of $26.53 billion in the U.S. search ad spending in 2015, down from 5.6% in 2014.

Overall this year, Yahoo will capture $3.37 billion in total digital ad revenue worldwide, or 2.0% of the worldwide digital ad market, down from $3.45 billion or 2.4% share in 2014, per the analysis firm.