Oct 25, 2010 08:11 GMT  ·  By

Captchas are a common sight across the web, but they're as annoying as they are secure. In fact, the more annoying they are, the more secure they are. Several companies are trying to change that and NuCaptcha, which creates embeddable video captchas, has released a new product which merges ads with the security tool.

NuCaptcha Engage uses the same technology as the company's regular video captchas, but instead of random clips it serves video ads.

The idea seems obvious and it's not the first time ads have been woven into captchas. What makes NuCaptcha different is the use of video.

NuCaptcha is a relatively fresh technology with the video captchas having been launched this summer. Since then, the company says, 3,500 websites have started using NuCaptcha instead of a regular captchas.

NuCaptchas come with a couple of major advantages over regular technologies. The video content and the motion are hard for automated programs to decipher. This makes video captchas more secure than the traditional ones many of which have been cracked by those trying to abuse the system.

The second big advantage is that the video captchas are a lot easier for users to understand and almost all of them get it right in the first try. Failing to understand the text in a captcha happens a lot more frequently with regular image-based ones.

While the technology is great, NuCaptcha also needs to make money, which is where the video ad captchas come in. The company has partnered with several advertisers including big names like Electronic Arts, Activision and Disney.

The price of the ads is a bit steeper but mostly in line with regular display ads. The company says that this type of ads is also easier to remember since they require the user to engage with them, hence the name.