Meko Press Releases

LCD TV Buyers To Move To Bigger Set Sizes

DATE: 28^th March 2007
The latest forecast from Meko's DisplayCast ATV market intelligence service indicates that while overall growth in the market for TV sets in Europe is steady, the demand for larger and larger flat panel TVs is growing rapidly. Sales of 40" and larger sets will account for nearly a third of all TVs sold in Europe by the end of 2009. This compares to around one TV in ten at the start of 2006.

"Flat panel sales outstripped the traditional CRT in Q4 2006 and this shift to LCD and plasma sets is helping to raise the average set size sold", noted Pete Gamby, Meko's research director. "In the past, the CRT was limited in screen size to 36" and even then the overall bulk of a set restricted sales at that size. Consumers now have increasingly affordable choices at screen sizes up to 70" with even larger sets planned in future". Although Europeans have relatively less household space than consumers in the US, the trend to larger sets in Europe is clear as consumers take advantage of falling prices for thin, flat TVs.

The weighted average size for a TV set in Europe will increase from around 26" at the beginning of 2006 to just over 34" at the end of 2009.

A decline in CRT sales in all regions in Europe will help push up this average. "Looking ahead, CRT set shipments will be down to less than 7.5 million units in 2008 as flat panels rise to more than 42 million units", commented Gamby. There's a note of caution though as the overall growth of around 9% year on year for each of the next three years is very much dependent on continued declines in LCD and plasma TV pricing and also on some increase in LCD panel production capacity. "Without some changes in the supply chain, there could be a tightening of supply towards the end of our forecast period", says Gamby. "This could mean a slowdown in price declines or just a general shortage of supply which would damage growth of course".

In 2008, there is another European sporting event that could kick sales of flat TVs on. The Euro 2008 soccer tournament takes place in Austria and Switzerland and it's expected that there will be a similar marketing frenzy from the TV makers as was seen for the World Cup in Germany. Meko has accounted for the potential disruption to typical seasonal sales trends in its latest forecast although the size and duration of the tournament means it is not expected to have the same dramatic impact as the World Cup.

Meko is forecasting revenue growth at the consumer purchase price level from around $35 billion in 2006 to more than $38 billion in 2009 based on the current ASP trends and the continued shift from CRT to flat panel sets.

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For more information or graphics, please contact Pete Gamby on +44 (0)1276 22677 or by email at peteg@meko.co.uk.

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