I'm not sure if talking or video ads with sound will drive visitors away. But, some voice actors don't have good voices which make them kind of bad.
However, I came across a few good talking ads where the music and voice actors voice is very convincing and make me want to learn more about the product the video or talking ad is talking about.
I think it depends on the forum like I think if your forum has a video section then people are more used to auto-play videos with sound.
I find voice ads very annoying, they seem to enjoy playing while I'm listening to a song on the computer. They just pop out of no where and then start playing, and I'm like WTF?!
I hate them.
I think auto play videos work for sites like Youtube and Last.fm where you click on a link which lead you to a video or song which plays when the website is loaded.
But, not so much on forums, blogs, and website rich in text and image content since returning visitors might already saw the video or just want to read the comments to see if the video is worth watching.
But, I don't like those video ads on Adsense partners videos which you can't skip over and you have to watch before you watch the video.
If I was to add one of these, I would make it so a user has to click to watch. You will still get the attention you want. Without having tons of members being annoyed.
I don't really like the auto play audio or video ads. I think they should be user initiated. Especially those "congratulations, you won.". Visitors for the most part know they're not true so what's the point of excentuating it?...
<begin rant>
Lets get in the mindset of the average forum member.
They go to your forum to read about and discuss cool topics on whatever your niche may be. They go there to chill and have a good time, like Facebook or Twitter, they just want to hang out and chat with like-minded people.
It's like they're at a big party.
Then you have that annoying, pain-in-the-butt dude who's at the party talking about what he has to sell to you.
"Ah I see you are insecure, I happen to sell penis enlargement pills which will remove all you insecurities... BLAH BLAH BLAH."
No one wants to hear that crap and they wont put up with it, whether its at a party or online. And it's bad enough when its forum spam or ads... but what you're talking about is heresy.
No one can have a discussion going on while someones talking to them. Even if it's something that they want or need they aren't going to buy it (or click the ad) because it's being broadcasted in the most annoying method possible.
Lets just end by me putting this image in your head:
Imagine an ice cream truck driving around your neighborhood blasting ads. Would you buy ice cream from him? NO! </end rant> :shake:
Oh, but video ads are ok as long as they aren't autoplay. 🙂
I can't stand them. I have NoScript (a FireFox Addon) and that stops all this stuff affecting me. There is nothing worse the browsing casually then suddenly hearing a voice blaring out.
