Arlington, Va. — April factory sales of digital television sets and monitors grew 76 percent in unit volume and 48 percent in wholesale dollars, according to statistics released by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA).
April DTV volume hit 309,098 units and more than $413 million in wholesale revenue, the CEA said.
These April factory-to-dealer sales attest to the continued strength of DTV sales, which marked a 76 percent increase in units and 48 percent increase in dollars for the month, compared to the same period in 2003.
“CEA projects that a total of 5.7 million DTV products will be sold this year, so the best is yet to come,” said Gary Shapiro, CEA president.
With the close of April, year-to-date manufacturer-to-dealer sales of DTV products have reached 1,284,410 units with some $1.8 billion in revenues, representing increases of 50 percent and 32 percent, respectively, compared to 2003.
In addition to the 2004 DTV projections, CEA Market Research projects that 9.4 million units will be sold in 2005, 15.6 million in 2006 and 23 million in 2007.
CEA defines DTV products as integrated sets and monitors displaying active vertical scanning lines of at least 480p and, in the case of integrated sets, receiving and decoding ATSC terrestrial digital broadcasts.
