• by Wendy Davis  @wendyndavis, September 30, 2005

While the Internet appears to have many millions of Web pages available for ads, finding a place for streaming video ads remains a challenge, said speakers this week at OMMA East.

"We cannot satisfy demand for online video," said Jeff Meyer, senior vice president, interactive sales at Scripps Network. "There is more money than the marketplace can handle right now for good, high-quality video."

Meyer added that Web publishers can't turn a profit just by serving video impressions because there isn't enough online video to go around. Instead, networks such as his must package the streaming video ads with banners. Then they can go to clients and say, "This is how we integrate your idea in all of these platforms," Meyer told the audience at the panel discussion, "Online Video Programming: Is TV a Loss Leader?"

But that situation might soon change, thanks to new and cheaper technology, said panelist Nicholas Ascheim, product manager for entertainment and video at New York Times Digital. "The price of producing video has come way, way down," Ascheim said. "It's easier to produce now than before."

In fact, said Ascheim, Times technology reporter David Pogue recently began creating his own video reports, which are available on NYTimes.com. The endeavor has been "profitable right off the bat," Ascheim told the audience.