Arlington, Va. – November and December 2005 digital television sales to dealers rose 35 percent to 2.3 million units over the same period in 2004, according to figures released by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA).
The association attributed some of the activity to increased availability of high-profile sporting events — namely the NFL playoffs and approaching Super Bowl XL – in high definition.
November 2005 DTV sales represented the highest sales month of the year – a key month for dealers to build up inventory levels for the approaching holidays and NFL playoff games, according to CEA.
Overall DTV factory sales in 2005 passed 12 million units and $17 billion in revenue, an increase of 60 percent over 2004. Of the unit sale number, high-definition displays represented 85 percent of total sales, according to CEA.
A recent CEA survey titled, “Inside the Mind of the HD Sports Fan,” credited sports enthusiasts with driving the sales of high-definition televisions. Nearly 50 percent of HDTV owners cited HD sports programming as the primary force behind their HDTV purchase, CEA said, and 78 percent of sports fans cited the Super Bowl as their favorite sports event to watch in HD.
“CEA forecasts HDTV will outsell analog sets by more than 89 percent in 2006,” said Gary Shapiro, CEA president, in a prepared statement. “The constant exponential momentum throughout 2005 and the exciting HD programming in 2006 – like the Super Bowl, the Winter Olympics and the World Cup – give me confidence that DTV and HDTV sales will hit new levels this year.”
