Consumers Switch To Big TVs As Prices Fall Says New Research

Demand for TV’s over 40 inches are booming with some sizes witnessing double- and triple-digit sales increases new research has revealed.Quixel Research said that as TVs fell and margins were eroded consumers moved to bigger models at the expense of smaller size categories.

Their Q4 2010 Large Area Display (LAD) report reveals continued growth for the overall 40- and 42-inch screen sizes, but the most significant growth was in the 55-inch-plus screen size segments for all LAD technologies (LCD, plasma and microdisplay rear projection).

“Consumers found tremendous large-screen values for both LCD TVs and plasma TVs in the fourth quarter,” said Tamaryn Pratt, Quixel Research’s principal. “The average selling price for a 55-inch LCD TV fell 26 percent from Q4 ’09 to Q4 ’10, and 58-inch plasma TV average selling prices declined 23 percent for the same time period. It is also important to note that many of these were full-featured models that included 3D and connected TV capabilities.”

The 40- to 46-inch HDTV models accounted for about 45 percent of the total LAD market in 2010 or were flat compared with 2009.

The 55- to 60-inch and 60- to 65-inch HDTV screen-size segments were the strongest share gainers, up 6 percent and 2 percent, respectively. Individually, the LCD TV 55- to 60-inch screen size segment was up 139 percent from 2009 to 2010, and the plasma TV 60-inch-plus screen size segment was up 58 percent for the same time period, the Quixel study showed.

For the biggest of the big screen TVs, MD RPTV 70-inch-plus sales increased 24 percent from 2009 to 2010.

Overall volume for the LAD category was up 56 percent from Q3 2010 to Q4 2010 and up 17 percent from 2009 to 2010.

Revenues for the category increased 42 percent from Q3 2010 to Q4 2010 or rose to $5.1 billion for Q4.

For the full report go to this link.