January 25, 2023
HD Ads On The Rise, But Lag Behind In HD Media Adoption
- by Wayne Friedman , August 10, 2012
Despite the continuing growth of high-definition TV commercials, it lags in HD capability of U.S. TV media.
HD commercials represent 25% of all commercials aired -- this compares to 70% of
U.S. TV media outlets that have adopted HD technology. HD commercials comprised 23% of all TV commercials as of the fourth quarter of 2011.
Still, Extreme says over the last two years there
has been a 150% increase in HD commercials.
More than national TV networks, local broadcasters lag in the capability to run HD commercials. Just 53% of local stations can accept TV
commercials. This compares with 74% HD adoption for local cable, 73% for network broadcast and 76% for national cable. This still represents an improvement in local stations -- as 10% could take on HD
ads two years ago, the the second quarter of 2010.
When looking at specific categories, Extreme says political advertisers/marketers are delivering the best numbers for HD commercials with
51% of all TV ads in HD. Entertainment is now 50%; financial services, 44%; and retail and automotive each are at 26%.
Helping HD along is the use of cloud-based services for distribution.
Extreme says TV advertisers can deliver 98.5 of either standard-definition or high-definition commercials.
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Interesting detail. From watching HD adoption curves, we estimate that each advertisement is displayed on an HD capable TV just over 1/2 the time. Whether that TV is tuned to an HD channel or whether that channel is displayed accurately is left to chance. Net out, that suggests that our ads delivered in HD (with SD center-cut for SD channels), the ad gets shown in accurate HD to around 40% of the viewers. That's for national cable. If we're looking at local, it drops to 15% to 20% seeing it in HD.