The sound of giant cardboard boxes being torn open can be heard throughout the land. Legions of men - and for some reason it is invariably men - are struggling to make sense of various cables, buttons and remote controls, while refusing to read the operating instructions. It can only mean one thing: the latest home entertainment product has arrived in the shops, which this year means high-definition television (HDTV to give it the required acronym).
For once, a new piece of consumer technology has been introduced with a very simply proposition - better pictures - and the early adopters have been universal in their praise. Media commentator, Raymond Snoddy, could barely restrain himself in his Marketing magazine column: "from now on you won't want to see sport, nature, wildlife, films or the arts on television any other way again; even the ads have real impact". Not surprisingly, the manufacturers are feeling bullish, predicting sales of 2.7 million HD-ready television sets by the end of 2006, despite the fact that they largely failed to capitalise on this summer's World Cup, with short-term demand outstripping supply.
The emergence of this new technology has some interesting implications for advertisers, at a time when reaching light television viewers in a multi-channel environment has become increasingly challenging. Owners of HDTV, who as with all early adopters of new technology, tend to be the type of young, upscale consumers that advertisers are desperate to reach, will inevitably want to watch the handful of programmes that have been made in high-definition: especially genres like sport, films and wildlife programmes where the technology really comes into its own. Advertising and sponsorship opportunities around these types of programming, which already tend to be described as "appointments to view", will consequently become even more valuable: cue sighs of relief from the management of Sky and Setanta, having recently paid a combined £1.7 billion for the broadcast rights to Premier League football matches.
It is also likely that niche channels specialising in highly visual material - think Discovery or National Geographic - will grow in popularity. In recent weeks, MPG has negotiated sponsorship and advertiser-funded content deals with National Geographic for Orange and Pioneer: two brands that you would expect to see at the cutting-edge of new broadcast technology. Other advertisers are likely to jump on the bandwagon.
With the notable exception of Sky (which is carrying HD-quality pictures across eight channels), the main commercial channels have been slow to embrace HDTV, beyond some low-key test transmissions and for once this isn't an area where the BBC has yet to secure a dominant position. However, we can expect a significant increase in funding for HDTV programming, plus HD studio and outside-broadcast facilities during the next year, especially if demand for high-definition televisions continues to grow. We are also likely to see an increase in imported programming from the US, where many new shows are filmed in high-definition.
One of the less obvious implications of the emergence of high-definition television could be the return of the shared television experience in the family living-room. All of the talk in recent years has been about the fragmentation of the viewing audience, with various family members watching different programmes in different parts of the house. It might take more than HDTV to persuade the average teenager to leave the sanctity of the computer screen in their bedroom, but the return of the family audience - for the handful of must-see HDTV programmes - can only be a good thing for many advertisers.
Once the penetration of HDTV reaches critical mass, which given the confidence of manufacturers, may only be a couple of years away, we will start seeing major advertisers commissioning high-definition commercials. You can imagine how the latest Stella Artois and Levi's ad will look in high-definition. For advertisers in the traditional high-interest or glamorous categories, high-definition commercials will provide the creative environment that they have only previously been able to enjoy in cinemas. They can also be confident that these will be the types of commercials that even the most avid ad-avoiders will want to watch.
