EarthLink is launching a series of video advertisements on Washingtonpost.com's video podcasts, writes MediaBuyerPlanner. According to Wahingtonpost.com, this is the first time that ad-supported free video podcasts have been available to the marketplace.

Beginning this month, the ads will run as 15-second units that launch prior to the video news content, on each of the current video podcast segments offered by washingtonpost.com as part of a month-long sponsorship. MediaVest negotiated the deal for EarthLink.

Editor & Publisher reports that Washingtonpost.com now ranks 18th out of the top 100 podcasts downloaded from iTunes, the highest ranking of a podcast from a non-broadcast news entity.

The launch follows a series of advertising and technology projects initiated by washingtonpost.com. In October, it became the first major newspaper site to offer video podcasts of news content. Most recently, the site launched Post Remix, a blog that encourages web developers to fashion web tools using Post content. In July, washingtonpost.com was the first news site to offer image advertising in RSS feeds.