Flat Panel TV Sales Still On The Up Big Slump Expected

Flat panel TV shipments are still on the rise despite an economic downturn. During the past quarter sales have increased 11% with 53 million units shiped globally claim research Company Display Search however they have warned that Q4 sales are set to crash.

Flat panel TV shipments are still on the rise despite an economic downturn. During the past quarter sales have increased 11% with 53 million units shiped globally claim research Company Display Search however they have warned that Q4 sales are set to crash.

LCD TV sales grew to over 50% of units shipped, plasma sales rose 37%. Samsung was the global brand leader for the eleventh straight quarter with 22.5% market share, this was  more than 9 points higher than #2 Sony. Samsung’s 36% Y/Y growth was the strongest among the top five brands.

Samsung also had the top ranking on a unit basis and led both LCD and MD RPTV categories on a unit and revenue basis with #2 rankings in CRT and PDP. Sony was #2 on a revenue basis for the fifth straight quarter and had the second strongest Q/Q growth among the top five, picking up about a point of share from Q2 to Q3. LGE remained #3 even though their share was down about a half a point to 10.9% on a revenue basis. LGE led in global CRT shipments. Given the technology’s strong position in emerging markets, this made LGE #1 in emerging markets on a unit basis. (See table below).

Table 2: Q3’08 Worldwide TV Brand Rankings by Revenue Share

Among the regions that saw growth from a year ago, China had the largest gain at 15% and was up 21% Q/Q to a record 12M units as Chinese retailers prepared for the early October Golden Week shopping season. North America also saw stronger growth than expected, given the state of economic conditions and the stellar growth during the preceding quarter, with Q3’08 shipments rising 12% Y/Y to 10M units. Much of the consumer demand deterioration didn’t come until the last few weeks of the quarter, so a positive selling environment during the rest of the quarter kept shipments flowing to retail.

Globally, flat panel TV share rose from 56% in Q2’08 to 57% in Q3’08 as PDP retained about 7% of shipments and LCD grew to 50% unit share for the first time. The annual growth rate for LCD TVs was slowing though, from 47% Y/Y during the first two quarters of 2008 to 32% Y/Y in Q3’08 as the share of shipment volume in developed regions begins to saturate and PDP TV prices fall at a quicker pace. Some other highlights from Q1’08 include

LCD TV took share in every region except North America, where it was flat at about 80% of units shipped, and climbed above 87% of shipments in Japan and Western Europe. LCD TV shipments rose to nearly 27M units with North America maintaining its position as the largest LCD TV market for the second consecutive quarter at 8M units. LCD TV shipment growth was strongest in developing markets like Latin America, Eastern Europe and the Middle East & Africa (MEA). In Latin America, LCD TVs rose quickly in popularity against CRT, growing about 120% Y/Y for the second straight quarter. The majority of LCD TV shipments were at 32″, which had a 36% share of all LCD TVs in Q3’08, while the 40″+ share was unchanged from Q2 at about 27% after more than nine straight quarters of share increases.

Plasma TV shipments continued to enjoy a renaissance in Q3 with unit shipments rising 37% Y/Y to 3.8M units, stronger shipment growth than LCD for the second straight quarter. Much of the recent plasma TV growth can be attributed to more aggressive pricing from leading brands and continued strong performance of 32″ models in Asia. However, in Q3’08 50″ sets saw the strongest share gain, rising from 25% of units in Q2’08 to 28% in Q3’08.

A review of global TV shipment performance by technology can be seen in Table 1 below:

Table 1: Q3’08 Worldwide TV Shipments by Technology (000s)