MUMBAI: In a first-of-its-kind survey US high definition (HD) network INHD has found that HD ads during the Super Bowl XXXIX were among the most impactful, and rated highly with adults who viewed the game in HD.
 
 
The survey polled 500 people who watched the game in HD on 6 February. The survey found that the highest rated ad was a HD spot - the Ameriquest ad featuring the romantic dinner gone awry after the cat knocks over the sauce.
 
 
Among ads that viewers said improved their opinion of the brand or company, eight of the top 12 were high-definition spots. 87 per cent of the viewers polled said that watching the game in high-definition increased their enjoyment of watching the commercials. 51 per cent said that it "greatly increased" their enjoyment. Most importantly viewers who watched the game in HD had an average of six other people watching with them. 21 per cent watched with 10 or more people.
 
 
INHD states that for a long time it has advocated the fact that advertisers who jump on the HD bandwagon would benefit from the format's ability to impact a very important audience. During the Super Bowl, we saw some of the nation's largest advertisers fall behind a more forward-thinking group that was ready to embrace the inevitable rapid growth of HD.

A recent study by Jupiter Research stated that there are currently close to 14 million HDTV sets installed in US households and that the number will jump to more than 30 million in 2006. For 60 per cent of INHD's respondents, this was the first time that they had watched the Super Bowl in HD.

In an earlier study INHD had found that 83 per cent of HDTV viewers could tell the difference between commercials that are shown in HD and those that are not. INHD is owned and operated by In Demand Networks.