mediaFORGE has launched a new interactive ad platform that marries banner ads and widgets.

mediaFORGE’s widget focused offering adds fully customizable widgets as a rollover to traditional ads. As visitors roll over the ad, a flash-based widget appears allowing users interact with content, be it shopping, browsing specials, deals, viewing videos or pictures, or listening to music. The company claims the ads “foster an enjoyable user experience.”

Launch partners include Overstock.com, who is using the technology to embed product search, and SkullCandy, who have added a MySpace media player to its online banner ads.

It’s hard to describe the offering without examples; I whipped together a short demo video above that shows how they work. We’ve seen transactional banners previously and they haven’t taken the world by storm; mediaFORGE’s emphasis on widgets marries existing concepts (and campaigns) into banner ads so they may have better luck in carving out a market.

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