Preroll Ad Preceding Movie Trailer? Really?

Look, I’ve never been a big fan of pre-rolls. But this is insane. I searched for a movie trailer today and found IMDB (a site I love, and one that deserves to monetize itself).

But before I could watch the trailer, I was subjected to a pre-roll ad.

Woah, tiger. I just volunteered to watch an ad for a movie. You got the clip for free from the studio. Now you’re going to serve an advertisement before it? Do you honestly think I’ll search out another trailer on IMDB again?

This is the equivalent of the damned DVDs that force 3 trailers before the main menu. So if you’re in the middle of the film and someone turns off the player (which happens more often than you’d think in our house), you scream ooohhhhh noooooooo… and realize you’ve lost about 10 minutes of your day.