HD Advertisers Show Dramatic Growth, Outnumbering SD Advertisers

Extreme Reach, Inc., 150 percent increase in growth in HD ad distribution since Q2 2010 suggests a major shift towards high definition TV advertising. Analyzing trends across TV media types in the past two years, the report offers key findings revealing, among other things, for the first time, HD advertisers on network broadcasts outnumbered SD advertisers.

The report, now in its eighth quarterly edition, focuses on five verticals: Financial Services, Automotive, Entertainment, Retail and Political. Providing the most up-to-date and relevant HD information for the advertising industry examines:

• HD advertising trends over the past two years
• HD advertising trends related to sporting arenas
• Local and national advertising opportunities

This study referenced a sample of 1,900 active television advertisers across 28 verticals, 615 active video production studios and content providers, and most commercial television and cable broadcast outlets in the United States and Canada. The 2012 Q2 edition HD Trends Report draws from a sample of 270,000 SD and HD commercial deliveries completed between April 1 and June 30, 2012.

While two years ago, HD ads made up about 10 percent of all TV ads distributed by advertisers to broadcast and cable media outlets, the current total has risen dramatically to 150 percent. The report also reveals a new trend in Cloud-based solutions for ad distribution as TV advertisers using the Cloud for ad distribution deliver an average of 98.5 percent of their SD and HD ads digitally.

This edition of HD Trends Report included a new feature related to sports venues in which, televisions of various sizes are displayed for the game in lounges, concession areas, jumbotrons and other areas. Extreme Reach data revealed major usage of high-definition advertising around sports venues. The study indicated: “Compared to local TV broadcasters, sports venues have higher HD adoption and distribution rates, presenting an HD-ready audience and a clear opportunity for advertisers, no matter the size of the game.”

Dan Brackett, Chief Technology Officer of Extreme Reach reflected on the report findings and analysis. “HD TV advertising has seen tremendous growth since 2010, and I think the rise of cloud computing has really helped move the industry forward into high definition. By taking advantage of advanced Cloud-based solutions, advertisers have been able to leverage higher performance/lower cost workflows, and those efficiencies have helped fuel the rapid growth in HD advertising.”