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Hear that sound?

It’s eMarketer trumpeting the future of online video advertising in two new reports issued in as many days.

In one report, the daily trend-analysis newsletter projects video ad spending to reach $5.8 billion by 2013, an increase of more than 1,000 percent from 2008. In another projection, eMarketer suggests that 183.3 million Internet users will view online video ads five years from now, up from 129.5 million viewers this year.

A key factor in the growth of the latter “will be an increase in the amount of trusted, professional-quality video content,” said David Hallerman, senior analyst at eMarketer.

That’s a loaded assessment – with many facets – and you’re probably wondering what defines trusted, professional-quality video.

Rightly so. And so are we.

But if you’re interested in entering the hit-or-miss milieu of online advertising (there’s no such thing as a middle-of-the-road milieu in this game), there are other factors to consider besides video quality.

Like relevance, for starters.

Before you make the decision to buy video ad space online, you’ve gotta do your homework. Ask yourself: who’s the target audience, and where is that audience living online? Are your customers flocking to gossip blogs, or do they prefer the more sophisticated pages of the Wall Street Journal? Are they meeting to spread love on MySpace, or are they loyal companions to Friendster? (Yes, they exist.)

As with traditional advertising, your placement shouldn’t be arbitrary. It’s essential that where your ad appears is relevant to the viewing audience. Think of it this way: An ad for Elizabeth Taylor’s White Diamonds perfume wouldn’t end up inside Esquire; likewise, your 30-second snowboard spot shouldn’t be shown on the sidebar of Wizards.com, the official home of Dungeons & Dragons.

Once you’ve decided where to maximize your potential, your next hurdle is how.

One of the biggest mistakes most executives make is blindly assuming that a television commercial can transfer seamlessly to the Internet. Sure, it saves money, but isn’t that counterintuitive to making more?

If someone has already seen your ad on TV – and they weren’t interested then (think Naomi Campbell with break-dancing lizards) – why would they stop to watch it online? The truth is, they won’t. You’re wasting their time with that nonsense. And so long as there are tweets to twit, diggs to be dugg, and hi5’s to hand out, the apathetic Internet audience will shun your feeble attempts. All because you chose to cut a few corners.

If you’re in it to win it, however, take a cue from Apple.

There’s no denying that the Mac vs. PC campaign has made an indelible mark on pop culture, but when it came time to position the personified feud online, Steve Jobs went back to the drawing board to rework what’s already working. What he came up with was this, and it’s nothing short of brilliant.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDE-KahcJBk&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&fs=1]

The “op-ed” ad accomplishes its mission on several levels (we don’t have the time or space to give a dissertation as to why, so study it, and study it well), but what struck us is its simplicity. There are no special effects, no stunts, no big hurrahs to write home about. It’s the same campaign we’ve all seen featuring the same actors delivering the same tame message.

What’s different is that Apple thought long and hard on how to effectively cross platforms – and it shows; they nailed this concept to the wall.

Incidentally, that’s exactly what you’re standing against. It’s time strut your stuff.