TV Industry News

So the US TV business continued to slow in second quarter of 2010. Q1 was up only 1% and Q2 has come in down 3%.

Global TV sales still rose 26% year over year in Q2. Driven by markets like China which was up 31%. This is still a large slow down from last year where China was up triple-digit.

What is slow in the US - rumor has it there is a significant amount of inventory that has grown in LED, IPTV and 3DTV, in sizes 40/42" , 46/47" & 55". Missing forecasts in these categories and sizes are driving reports you are hearing about soft TV sales from Costco, Best Buy, Target, Wal-Mart, and others.

Worldwide Brand percentages were reported for Q2 as:

Samsung - 24.4%
LG - 14.1%
Sony - 12.8%
Panasonic - 9.0%
Sharp - 6.4%
Other - 33.3%

This is worldwide, and you would see a significantly different picture if reported for US only.

3DTV sales estimates for the year had been reported to be as high as 5 Million units.

Current 3DTV estimates for the US targeted 2.6 Million, and have recently been discussed at struggling to hit 2 Million units.

This will build up to an interesting Holiday Season. If sales continue to be soft, something is going to give. Someone is going to need to move inventory, either at retail or driven by Vendor Incentive to get inventory back in line. Panel suppliers have been rumored to be reducing capacity vs. attacking the situation with price. I expect there will be some price movement, but how and when that impacts pricing in the stores for consumers to react is up in the air.

Another wild ride into the holiday season.

Questions? Let me know!

JZ