• by Wayne Friedman , October 21, 2010

Although a majority of all U.S. TV homes have at least one HDTV set, the adoption of HDTV commercials on TV is moving at a slower pace.

While 24% of U.S. commercials are produced as HDTV spots, only 14% have been used in TV networks, TV stations and cable systems, per a study sponsored by Extreme Reach, a video advertising management and distribution company.

While virtually all TV and cable networks are airing in HD, local TV and cable systems' adoption of HD can vary greatly. Eighty-three percent of broadcast networks now have the ability to take on HD commercials, 59% of all cable networks, 57% of all cable systems, and 32% of all local TV stations.

The airing of HD commercials is slowly rising, now at 14% of all commercials in the third quarter versus 10% the year before. The report says national advertisers are producing HD commercials at nearly twice the rate as local advertisers.

Along the same trend lines, TV networks are outpacing local TV stations and cable systems when it comes to using HD commercials.

Financial advertisers are the largest category in getting HD commercials distributed: 15% of all that group's commercials distributed. Entertainment is next at 10%; automotive is at 8%; retail, 6%; and political, 1%.

Of all those commercials delivered, 30% of broadcast network TV commercials were in HD; 23% for cable networks; 8% local TV stations, and 5% for local cable systems.

The survey looked at 950 TV advertisers surveying 91,000 high-def and standard-def commercials between July 1 and September 30 of this year.