VentureBeat

BrightRoll, a company that provides high volume, targeted and branded video advertising has created the first high-definition ad network. Utilizing the widespread availability of broadband connections and HD-compatible LCD monitors on computers, the company expect this to be a quickly growing market. However, with major online video players such as YouTube shying away from HD-quality video, is the Internet ready for HD-quality advertisements?

BrightRoll chief executive Tod Sacerdoti believes so, and made it clear when he spoke with us today. Right now, “60-70% of users we see could accept HD-quality ads based on their signal strength,” Sacerdoti said. For those who don’t have the appropriate connection speeds, the company uses its signal detection to dial-down the ads to a lesser quality.

Sacerdoti made the important point that these HD ads are not meant for every publisher right off the bat. Certain areas such as television, movie trailers, and DVD releases could obviously benefit from having their content shown in HD, but for others it would be less meaningful. Sacerdoti also noted that many high-end commercials are already shot in HD and so they would naturally be ready for an online HD-quality video ad network such as the one BrightRoll is offering.

While staying away from HD-quality for now, YouTube did recently enable the ability to see high quality (read: not quite HD) videos. Another company, Dailymotion, recently launched HD content for its online video site, suggesting the market for better-quality video on the web is growing (our coverage).

BrightRoll is based in San Francisco and launched in 2006 with $1 million in funding (our coverage). The company’s investors include True Ventures. Some of its clients include HP, Visa, Warner Brothers and Wal-Mart.