HD commercials gaining traction?

Just two short years ago, we were the ones wondering where all the HD ads were, but now it seems that commercials in high-definition are finally getting the attention they deserve. According to a study conducted on Discovery HD Theater, it was found that "the increase in brand recall by HD viewers was triple that of standard-definition viewers, and intent-to-purchase was 55-percent higher when ads were seen in HD." Furthermore, viewers claimed that spots in high-def were "very enjoyable." The research hints that HD commercials may finally be recognized as "premium content" worth premium prices, but it was noted that as these kinds of ads become "more normal, they won't have as big a lift."

[Image courtesy of HiddenWires]

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 18th 2007 10:24AM]

I love the Best Buy commercials that are trying to sell you HDTVs and installation services, yet the commercial is in SD. Irony.

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 18th 2007 10:31AM]

Best Buy is probably targeting people who don't yet have HD perhaps?

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 18th 2007 5:35PM]

Hey, that's my TV in the picture!

I definitely pay more attention to commercials in HD.

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 18th 2007 12:17PM]

You'd think Sony would jump on this bandwagon and promote BluRay players in HD commercials. I guess they could be around, I've just never seen one.

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 18th 2007 5:38PM]

Both HD DVD and Blu-ray have HD spots - they primarily run on ESPN HD and Discovery HD, in my experience.

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 18th 2007 2:18PM]

I like the ones showing side-by-side comparisons yet both are SD.

[CharlieX Posted Sep 18th 2007 2:42PM]

There has certainly been an uptick in spots we're finishing in HD lately. I'm surprised, actually, that not every advertiser who buys time on the networks (ABC, NBC, etc....) isn't doing EVERYTHING in HD. The extra cost is fairly minimal.

[UnnDunn Posted Sep 18th 2007 6:31PM]

There is one ad that depicts an unidentified vehicle (which is later revealed to be a BMW X5) tearing it up around Nurburgring Nordschliefe. That ad is the most amazing thing ever in 1080i and Dolby 5.1.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfdJKqDusDQ

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 18th 2007 7:44PM]

There's some paint commercial that I've seen on various HD channels that depicts several different beautiful landscapes with squares missing from them. It's striking to think how great the commercial would look in HD, but because they chose to only show it in SD, it loses a lot of its impact.
Some more art-y commercials definitely benefit from the HD treatment.