Plasma TVs Blitz Super Bowl Week

By Greg Tarr -- TWICE, 2/18/2011

Port Washington, N.Y. - With apologies to the Green Bay Packers, big-screen plasma TVs were the big winners of this year's Super Bowl, according The NPD Group's breakdown of TV sales.

The market research firm's Weekly Tracking Service comparing sales from the weeks ending Feb. 5, 2011 and Feb. 6, 2010, revealed sales of plasma TVs increased 45 percent in units and 11 percent in dollars, compared with 2010 Super Bowl week sales.

Models with 50-inch screens accounted for 50 percent of all plasma units and dollars sold that week.  The average price of a 50-inch plasma was $670, which was down more than $170 from last year, and the average sale price for 42-inch plasmas dropped $100 to $451, the study found.

In comparison, sales of TVs with screen sizes of 32 inches and smaller fell 25 percent during Super Bowl week.

NPD said overall sales of TVs above 40 inches grew 12 percent during game week, with most of that increase coming from low-cost plasma products.

Total flat-panel TV sales decreased 5 percent in units and 7 percent in dollars at the same time.

Overall sales of LCD TVs were weaker than plasma, with sales increasing just 1 percent for the 40-inch and above segment.

However, sales among the different size ranges were mixed, with 40- to 42-inch LCD TV sales dropping 24 percent, 46- to 47-inch sales increasing 16 percent, and larger-than-50-inch LCDs soaring 53 percent vs. 2010 Super Bowl week, NPD said.

"Value and size sold TVs this Super Bowl season," said Stephen Baker, NPD Group industry analysis VP. "Consumers looking for value chose aggressively-priced, but low-featured plasma TVs in the 40- to 50-inch screen size range.  Feature-focused consumers went big as LCD TVs with 60-inch and above screens accounted for 17 percent of all the LCD sets sold with screens bigger than 50 inches, compared to nothing in that segment last year."

NPD's weekly POS information is derived from a subset panel of retailers that also contribute to NPD's projected monthly point-of-sale panel.