The ABC.com Web site has undergone a few changes lately that we were able to get a look at this week. It added a new video player that offers the option of a full-screen and a couple of other smaller formats if someone wants to do something else while watching their shows.
Another addition is that after every eight minutes of play, the player defaults to a full-screen picture with a new ad at the end of each segment. Along with that, if a video being watched is paused, a static ad will appear which will show the sponsor of the particular show, increasing the branding experience for the advertiser.
"That's something we considered in the development," said Alexis Rapo, VP-digital media for ABC. "We wanted the experience to be the same for the advertiser once the screen expands so the consumer can continue to interact with the ad pod. 
There's interesting concepts there that translate from an on-air to online perspective."
Rapo added that the key reason for the addition of this feature is that it's been found that viewers will usually pause during their viewing at least once, making it a potentially effective tool.
This is important to watch to me, because we really don't know yet how viewers will respond to online advertising that has some disruptive element to it. People have said a lot of things about it, but until its offered and tried, we'll never know. This should be a good tool we can watch to see how viewers respond on ABC's dime.
Along with new full episodes of "October Road" and "Dancing With the Stars," the network is also adding a new short-form show with original content called "Voicemail," which premiered to a first-week online audience of 600,000 for Tuesday through Sunday.
ABC's online site has been growing strong overall as they say broadband viewing has increased by 800 percent since last year.
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