The Picture Is Becoming Clearer

Imagine you are watching your favorite show or sporting event and there is a commercial break. I know, not very hard to imagine. Now imagine when that commercial starts, the quality of the picture is not as crisp as that of the programming. You would certainly take notice, and not in a good way. This issue will soon be solved for mobile video, as well.

In-stream mobile video ads can provide an especially rich sensory experience for audiences. Just like on a TV, HD video ads would allow the creative to live up to the quality of this favored format. HD’s entry to the scene is a step toward a level playing field across all screens. If the technical quality of in-stream on all screens is the same, it stands to reason that the viewing experience is equally good.

We already know that one of the fastest ways for a brand to be received negatively is to deliver poor-quality ad content. By virtue of its visual power and impact, HD creative/ad content has the ability to impact a brand positively, particularly during this period of time when it’s not universally expected. Aside from delivering something of distinctly higher quality visually, brands that are early adopters of this technology convey a sense of innovation.

So Where Are We?

Previously, devices rendering HD was a tall order on bandwidth. There are still minor hurdles around making HD advertising receivable universally – for example, consumers slow to upgrade devices still may not have the hardware that is HD-capable – but the speed of device iteration is staggering, and shouldn’t be an issue for much longer.

What’s Coming Soon?

Video is upping its game rapidly on both the viewer and advertiser side; in addition to HD programming and advertising, there is increasing standardization of ad serving and creative development. Importantly, there are devices that are engineered specifically for better video viewing, and of course we’ve got more content than we know what to do with. Where could we possibly go from here, you ask?

The answer most likely involves furthering the synchronicity of content creators and mobile viewers, where video content is approached and created specifically for the mobile format – considerations made around content duration, the way segments and scenes are shot, and perhaps even the way video advertising is delivered. We are a few years away from total cross-screen integration across all devices, but adoption and proliferation of HD quality video ads on mobile devices is a major step in that direction.