World Wide Television sales Decline - LCD TV had first ever Year over Year Decline

This industry has lost a lot of money giving away the technology for the sake of Unit Share or Dollar Share from a brand point of view. I understood to some degree the panel folks that sunk so much money into the ground on the FABS and need to get 100% output and so on. That only goes on for so long.

The industry also had the unrealistic view that there would be double the number of TVs in the average home because these are flat. Well mounting is not that simple, need to move power, and where the source is located. Also once you mount it, where do you put all of your devices? Not so easy. Also, customers don't want a TV in every room of the house, and not everyone believe good design in their home is to have a TV for a wall.

We also had all of our wonderful furniture from before and if we didn't want to throw it all out and buy new, we found a TV that would fit in what we had.

Time for the TV industry to wake up and understand what the consumer needs are, and design new features and functionality that meets and exceeds those needs to drive profit. Not forcing customer to change out their TV more often, or continue to hope on size and volumes that just don't make any sense.

JZ

LCD TV Shipments Hit Global Snag

By Greg Tarr -- TWICE, 6/20/2012

Santa Clara, Calif. - Worldwide TV shipments fell almost 8 percent to 51 million units year to year in the first quarter, the steepest rate of decline since the second quarter of 2009, according to a report Wednesday from NPD's DisplaySearch.

The biggest contributor to the decline was a 3 percent drop in shipments of LCD TVs, to 43 million units, which was the technology's first ever year-on-year decline.

"Soft demand and cautious expectations about the upcoming year in many parts of the TV supply chain have led to a slowdown in shipments," stated Paul Gagnon, NPD DisplaySearch director of North America TV research. "Key component prices, such as LCD panels, are not expected to decline much in 2012, and many brands are concentrating on improving their bottom line. Both of these trends will contribute to slowing unit volume among a price-conscious consumer market."

LCD TV shipment share fell slightly from Q4 2011, due to a seasonal shift to emerging markets where CRT demand is higher, but is up 4 percentage points from a year ago, to 84.2 percent, DisplaySearch said.

"LCD TV is capturing market share at 40 inches and larger screen sizes because of a sharp decline in plasma TV demand," the firm stated. "The average LCD TV screen size increased 5 percent year on year in Q1 '12, passing 35-inch for the first time, with gains in both emerging and developed markets."

Shipments of LED-based LCD TVs rose sharply, from 51 percent in Q4 2011 to almost 56 percent in Q1 2012, 20 percentage points higher than a year ago because more affordable direct-type LED-backlit sets began shipping in Q1 2012.

Plasma TV unit shipments continued to decline, falling 18 percent year on year in Q1 2012 after an 8 percent decline in Q4 2011.

"The popularity of plasma TV among consumers is waning, and a large majority of the recent shipment volume remains centered on low-priced 2D HD models, indicating consumers are buying on price when shopping for plasma," according to the firm.

Still, DisplaySearch said demand for larger screen sizes continues to grow. The market share for 40-inch and larger TVs increased from just less than 31 percent a year ago to more than 37 percent in Q1 2012, with total unit shipments for 40-inch-plus rising 12 percent year on year.

"Larger sizes have become much more affordable, with 40- to 44-inch LCD TV average prices below $600 and new 50-inch LCD TVs selling for less than $1,000, joining 50-inch-class plasma TVs that have been selling for less than $700 for several quarters now," DisplaySearch said.