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European LCD TV Adoption Hits Plasma TV Sales
DATE: 8th March 2007
The latest preliminary data from Meko's DisplayCast ATV market intelligence service indicates that sales into the channel of LCD TVs boomed in Q4 2006 with unit shipments up by more than 90% year on year. This brings the total number of LCD TVs sold in 2006 to more than 16 million for 115% year on year growth. As anticipated, flat panel sales outstripped CRT set shipments with close to 60% of the market going to either plasma or LCD TV suppliers. In revenue terms at the street price level, the market for LCD and plasma TV was worth around $11.1 billion in the fourth quarter of 2006 and more than $29 billion for the full year. "After two quarters of turbulence in the market caused by the World Cup and its after-effects, shipments in Q4 showed strong seasonal growth", noted Pete Gamby, Meko's research director. "What we have to be cautious of though is how much inventory has remained in the channel during the first part of 2007". Any significant excess in the channel will damage supply in Q1 and will hit prices too. Meko's monthly channel inventory survey of the TV market in Europe indicates that the TV makers had things under control in December and January but there are some signs that the tide has turned in February. Although there was good news for those that supply LCD TVs, the plasma TV makers will be licking their wounds as shipments of that type of set only managed to show year on year growth of around 20%. Some makers were hoping to record annual growth in excess of 50% for each quarter in 2006 and 2007 but it appears that price competition from the LCD suppliers has damaged that hope perhaps beyond repair. Both Samsung and LG have recently indicated that they intend to put renewed effort into building plasma shipments. Both have been left trailing in the wake of Panasonic which took over a quarter of the plasma TV market in Europe in the fourth quarter. The overall TV market for Q4 was close to Meko's forecast at around 12.7 million units. LCD sales were ahead of expectations to the detriment of plasma and flat-faced CRT shipments. The very low cost conventional direct view CRT market did show growth in line with expectations but was still down by nearly a third year on year. "The increasing dominance of the LCD sector is highlighted by the fact that the single biggest selling type of TV in Q4 was 32 inch LCD", noted Goksen Bali, Meko's TV research manager. "This is the first time that a flat panel TV has outsold the 21" CRT which has been the top seller consistently for the past two years", she added. By brand, Samsung led in the LCD market with Philips and a resurgent Sony in second and third places respectively. The top five brands accounted for more than 70% of the LCD TV market. -end- For more information or graphics, please contact Pete Gamby on +44 (0)1276 22677 or by email at peteg@meko.co.uk. If you would like to receive press releases from Meko as soon as they are available, please send a blank email to: ListServer@meko.co.uk, with the subject line 'Subscribe MekoNews'. |