Advertisements started appearing overnight on BBC web properties when viewed from outside the UK, and the corporation has made three hires for the BBC.com site that will be the new business model’s primary driver. Kym Niblock joins as BBC.com MD after leaving her post as BSkyB (NYSE: BSY) head of broadcast operations (formerly Nickelodeon International VP), Tom Bowman becomes BBC.com VP international ad sales after quitting as MSN International’s regional sales director, while Phu Truong leaves Dow Jones’ (NYSE: DJ) Wall Street Journal Digital to become BBC.com director of digital sales (via emailed release).

So far, BBC.com, approved by the BBC Trust last month, merely redirects to BBC.co.uk. Inventory on the BBC.co.uk homepage was bought out by Airbus, according to the first grab from former BBC.co.uk producer Martin Belam in Greece, who asks: “What did it do to deserve this?” Alf Hermida, a former BBC News online technology editor now in Canada, found just one, half-skyscraper ad for a wristwatch at BBC News in this second grab - but found ads are coming in 728×90, 160×600, 468×60 and 120×240 formats (an earlier mockup with four ads is here).

In an FAQ, the BBC reiterates “advertising will be clearly separated from editorial content” and reveals broadband videos, too, will get pre-roll ads tacked on to the front. And yes, ads will appear on both the international and UK versions of BBC News (which can be toggled between), because it uses geofiltering.

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