If you haven’t come across one of Jeep Patriot’s “Choose Your Adventure” interactive movie ads, than you probably haven’t been online in a few days….

I like things that are interactive. I like movies. And I fall in just the right demo to get sucked in by the “Choose Your Adventure” title (which they’re getting sued for using). So I thought I’d give it a spin.

Initial impression? Coooool.

Impression after the first five minutes? Well…I didn’t last that long.

While it’s an excellent, well-produced, and smartly-targeted effort that will probably reel in lots of ADDYs, I clicked away because when I’m online, I don’t have that kind of time—and it wasn’t quite interactive enough to keep me engaged. (Jeep’s ad folks, BBDO and Organic, Inc, probably realized this was going to happen, because unlike most virals that wait until the end to try and gather user info like email addresses, this effort grabs info right up front.)

This experience left me trying to figure out what the cap is on the average user’s online attention span. Obviously, folks can get pulled into online gaming marathons and things like Second Life, but I think those are different from participating in a blatent marketing effort.

Some online sleuthing came up with a wide range of opinions on length—but I think this one is my favorite:

Question: How long should an online video be?

Answer: As long as it needs to be.

What do you think is the ideal length for a viral video or interactive effort?