Come May '07, YouTube will play small commercials before playing the video. And this is just the beginning. In the coming years, YouTube and many other video sites are expected to cautiously graduate to inter-video (and later subject to user acceptance, intra video) commercial breaks. And thus complete the melding of television with the Internet !

With nearly 40 million individuals logging in to YouTube every month, YouTube can claim close to an awesome 50% share of the Internet video market. (Which also makes Google the world's most visited group of web-sites.) So this move was to be expected sooner rather than later. Partly to "share" revenue with content creators. But mainly to justify Google's $1.6 billion acquisition of YouTube.com !

While nobody can claim to be an expert in online video, one thing is certain: the transition is going to be very, very carefully planned. With high quality, extremely viewable commercials being as much a key factor as ensuring minimum disruption of the users' experience.

Meanwhile, its caveat time for online video viewers !