Moving images, whether on film or video, can create magic. The supremacy of the television commercial is based on its much overstated ability to evoke a complex emotional/rational response that results in brand awareness, sales and loyalty.

But what if you unlink this advertising medium from the television screen and let it flow to other screens — to millions of computer screens and millions more phone screens? Better yet, what if 20 percent of the online population starts making its own videos? All of this is happening in a world where the U.S. consumer probably is spending as much time online as watching television.

Are there more distribution channels for the same commercials, or are whole new models for advertising coming into being? Are the paradigms for video programming, historically defined by TV networks, about to be re-invented not once but several times over?

The actions of corporations as large as NBC Universal, News Corp., Google and Procter & Gamble make it clear that the release of TV commercials — or videos — from TV to the Web has seismic implications. Even more evident is that despite all that has occurred in the world of Web video over the last 18 months — the rise of consumer-generated content, the daily announcements about new online video advertising formats and the availability of TV programming on the Web, for example — we are only seeing the beginning.

While this might be an exciting time, it is not necessarily helpful news for those of us who want to use video to sell products, influence consumers and manage budgets. There is no proof-of-performance history for units invented yesterday. Nielsen isn’t tracking pre-roll or downloads of programming. And the designs of the new online video formats don’t facilitate consumer action. This robs marketers of the clickthrough and conversion rates that had been their measure of success for a decade.

However, despite these setbacks, this still is a great time to experiment with the new and current video formats. The time is now. Get over the longing for the good old days of the 30-second television commercial and basic online banner ad.

Basically, there are three categories of video format most types of advertising fall into.

Ads in video content: pros and cons

These are colloquially known as “pre-roll” and usually involve putting a pre-existing TV spot in content that has been downloaded to the consumer or that the consumer is watching on a site. The ratio of commercial to content here can be as much as 15 seconds of commercial to two minutes of programming or a 30-second spot running before a full-hour episode.

A variation of the pre-roll, called simple right, involves transplanting the old video model to the Internet. Here, consumers pay for programming by watching a commercial. Like the old model, however, there is no guarantee that consumers watch the commercials or remember them. There isn’t proof that after downloading it they have even watched the show. And, what’s more, there are no Nielsen numbers to analyze and offer an approximation of reality.

Even less is understood about the mindset of the consumer who has just spent a minute or more downloading the programming. First, there is the basic psychology of recall — after 40 to 60 minutes of content, will anyone remember the commercial? This has never bothered the purveyors of cinema advertising, but at a $35 to $40 cost per thousand, it should at least vaguely worry buyers of pre-roll. Then there is the consumer’s investment of time waiting for the download. After that, does he or she really want to see an ad?