Austin, Texas – Global TV shipments fell by 0.3 percent to 247.7
million units in 2011, marking the first time global shipments experienced a
decline since
began tracking them in 2004, according to a new report from the category market
analyst.
LCD TV shipments represented a distinction, however, as global
shipments increased by 7 percent to just more than 205 million units in 2011,
which was still significantly slower than in previous years, a new
DisplaySearch report documents.
Meanwhile, worldwide plasma TV shipments dropped almost 7 percent
in 2011 to 17.2 million units, the largest decline for the category to date.
CRT shipments (still available in some global regions) fell 34 percent.
Paul Gagnon, NPD DisplaySearch North American TV research director,
noted the declines were well below expectations, and were largely due to “excessive
inventory levels early in 2011 for the U.S. and European markets, as well as a
sharp drop in demand in Japan following the end of the government sponsored
Eco-Points program that caused a surge in replacement activity during
2009-2010.”
The fourth-quarter 2011 shipments were down 4 percent year to year
globally, to 74.2 million units, with LCD TV shipments rising just 1 percent,
which was another low point since NPD DisplaySearch began tracking shipments.
Plasma TV units were down 8 percent, and CRTs were down 43
percent.
The decline in unit shipments was most severe in Japan and
Western Europe, the report noted, as North America saw mild growth.
Collectively, TV shipments in the developed regions (North
America, Japan and Western Europe) declined 21 percent year to year in the
fourth quarter of 2011.
TV shipment growth in emerging regions continues to be strong
though, increasing 12 percent year to year in the fourth quarter, with LCD TV
unit shipments rising 20 percent.
China continued to hold the lead as the top region for TV
shipments, at 21 percent, unchanged from the previous quarter, with TV
shipments totaling 15.6 million units for the fourth quarter and 49 million
units for 2011.
China also had strong growth in 2011, with shipments increasing
19 percent year to year in the fourth quarter, the highest of any region.
More than 90 percent of TV sets in the region were LCD as of
2011. North America was the second largest region for TV shipments, accounting
for 20.5 percent of shipments in the fourth quarter, and was the only developed
region to experience year-to-year shipment growth, DisplaySearch said.
Samsung’s global flat-panel TV revenue share increased in the
fourth quarter of 2011, to 26.3 percent, which is a record level for any brand
and a 3 percent increase from previous quarter.
Samsung was also the global revenue market share leader in both
LCD and plasma, displacing Panasonic as the leader of plasma revenue market
share for the first time, NPD DisplaySearch said.
