I’ve written about Apple’s innovative ad units before – in particular, on Yahoo.
And, I’ve criticized ESPN’s new ad formats before.

Today, the two came together in a great way: Apple is running another experiential, rich-media campaign on ESPN’s homepage. The ad is again terrific and far more engaging than anything else on the web… you know an ad is effective when you press the replay button (again and again). Add engagement, large real estate and rich-media – and you can believe that ESPN is fetching great CPMs.

I do have two remarks though:

1. I do not like that the ad unit extends across the entire screen because it causes inadvertent clicking. I understand why it is technically positioned that way – but it is annoying and very transparent….

2. It is strange that there doesn’t seem to be a user cap – I have seen this ad 10+ times today. Usually the advertiser would cap it on an IP or cookie basis? I see Rapleaf ads dozens of times a day… it kills me. And not only is it annoying – it loses its efficacy after viewing #50.

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