Five seconds? Now those are some ads I can get excited about. That’s so fast I probably wouldn’t be able to find the “Skip this ad” or “Close” button. Here’s more:

Arik Czerniak, chief executive of Metacafe — a competitor to video-sharing sites like YouTube, Google Video, iFilm, Heavy.com and others — wants marketers and ad agencies to tailor messages to the preferences of viewers of short-form videos online.

“Why not five-second video ads?” he said. “I would gladly put those in front of videos. But I will never put 30-second ads in front of videos. It’s too much. It ruins the experience for viewers.”

As video sites ride the popularity tide begun by YouTube, the ideas of Mr. Czerniak and others in the burgeoning community will likely be seriously considered by marketers. Metacafe began offering advertising space to marketers two months ago and is already running five-second ads from H&R Block. Mr. Czerniak said more are in the works and that he has had inquiries from Johnson & Johnson and many others, including “a big media company.”

In general, Internet video services rack up minimal revenue today ($200 million in 2005), but market intelligence firm IDC estimates that by 2010, revenue for the category will reach $1.7 billion. Advertising will account for almost half (46%) of that 2010 revenue, according to a report this month by IDC analyst Josh Martin.