Rolex Ad on Newsweek Site Begs the Question: How Big Is Too Big?

(MoneyWatch)  On the sites of major publishers, you've no doubt seen huge ads lately, that briefly take up the whole page before rolling back up into their officially allotted space and letting you get on with your life. I'm mostly in favor of these ads. As I've written before, having premium inventory is crucial to online publishers' fortunes, and not at all coincidentally, it's a big initiative of the Online Publishers Association, some of whose members started to run bigger, splashier ads this past summer.

That said, I've got to admit that this ad for Rolex, which I saw yesterday on the Newsweek home page, took me aback, even though it did have the good sense to "shrink" quickly. (I don't know if this is an official OPA ad unit.) Take a look, and let me know what you think -- it's easier since BNET streamlined its registration earlier this week. Is this an example of a big ad being too big?

Previous coverage of big ads at BNET Media:

• OPA-comScore Study Says the Unclicked-Upon Ad Has Value
• The New York Times' Really Big Ad
• YouTube's Super-Sized Ad Unit Rocks