A pet food maker wanting to expand its reach with online video might choose to put ad money into SimonsCat on YouTube, the top performer in the pet and animals category, or it could simply buy tonnage across the top ten best-performing creators in the genre. By that same token, a marketer wanting to reach audiences interested in extreme sports could segment them out in the online video world using the just-launched media buying and planning platform OpenSlate from online video ad company Outrigger Media.

While plenty of consumers make purchases using smartphones and tablets, very few do so immediately after seeing a TV ad, says research firm Interpret LLC. This gap represents an opportunity for marketers, especially given the close links in consumer behavior surrounding tablets and TV.

Some things just don't go together. Cookies and mustard, for instance. Minivans and coolness, for another. Add Apple TV and Hulu Plus to the list as well.

Tablets and TVs go hand in hand, but in ways that may surprise marketers and networks. Tablet owners are twice as likely as smartphone owners to watch full episodes of TV shows and they spend 50% more time viewing during an average session - 36 minutes on tablets compared to 24 minutes on smartphones, according to a just-released study from research firm GfK Media comparing tablet and smartphone usage.

If the Interactive Advertising Bureau has its way, then the majority of video ads on the Web will include interactive features in a few years. But how effective is interactivity in a pre-roll spot? Online ad platform Jivox studied more than 250 campaigns delivered using its interactive technology for the last two years across sectors including auto, entertainment, consumer products, retail and others. The conclusion is that interactivity can boost interaction by 49% for ads watched all the way through.

Most digital video ad inventory today is not interactive -- but that could change within two years when potentially half may be interactive, says Peter Minnium, head of brand initiatives at the Interactive Advertising Bureau.

The London Games are being billed as the first digital Olympics. Thanks to NBC, the sporting event will be available on TVs, mobile phones, desktops and tablets, both live streams and on-demand, for the next two weeks. The Games will also be the biggest test to date for TV Everywhere, the cable industry's three-year-old effort to bring cable programming to digital devices. TV Everywhere has not been adopted broadly by operators. If digital delivery of the Olympics proves popular with viewers, that may change.

Wait. I thought display ads were supposed to be the unsexy part of the Internet ad business? But they're on the cusp of a renaissance as they generate new attention and innovation from agencies and vendors. The latest effort comes from Eyeview, which has launched new tools so its technology can be used to tailor in-banner videos, as well as mobile video ads, in addition to the existing personalization it enables in pre-roll spots and connected TV ads.

I tried to be stoic. I tried to be jaded. I was sure I wouldn't shed a single tear. But P&G won. I cried when I finally watched this P&G "Best Job in the World" spot for the Olympic Games. I'm not the only one; the ad has racked up more than 12 million views across video sites, according to social video platform Unruly Media. P&G is also the top Olympics brand so far in terms of social video reach, the company said.

As mobile video consumption skyrockets, the medium has become a hotbed for innovation in ad formats. The number of worldwide mobile video views should nearly triple from 108 billion last year to 280 billion this year, according to Strategy Analytics. Mirroring the growth, video ad network YuMe has rolled out a new mobile video format that allows for additional interactive enhancements in mobile video ads. The company also said it will now enable tablet-only campaigns for marketers to take advantage of the boon in that venue.