"Branded Entertainment Efforts"

This Mashable article looks at a hybrid of commercials and entertainment: branded entertainment videos. These aren't necessarily viral videos, but they're definitely produced in order to create as much social media buzz as possible, and the companies have spikes in brand awareness to prove it.

What I'm left wondering is what will happen to traditional television commercials as we see more material like this which can be distributed via channels that reach a specific audience (like YouTube and funnyordie.com). These can't be on-air yet because some of the material is inappropriate, but do you think they will be eventually?