LAS VEGAS – Digital TV (DTV), the unquestioned star of this CES was also the spotlight grabber for dealers last year.
DTVs ended the year with an all-time record sales month, as unit shipments of sets and displays to dealers climbed to 640, 400 to boost the 2003 full-year sales total to an unexpectedly high 4.12 million, up a sharp 61.7 percent from the 2.54 million sold in 2002, according to figures issued here at the CES by CEA Marketing Services,
CEA had been expecting total digital TV sales for the year to come in at about 3.95 million, but the December surge put the actual total well above that. The year’s performance lifted the total number of digital TVs sold to date at 8.87 million
Analog TVs also were in big demand during the holiday season as, excluding combinations, direct-view sales rose 7.2 percent to 2.45 million. But all other video products, with the exception of DVD players and combos, posted declines.
For the year, total analog TV sales were off by 10.9 percent to 29.6 million, with the fall-off minimized by a sharp 187.7 percent increase for TV/DVD combos to 1.55 million. Direct video sales fell 7.5 percent to 20.8 million units, TV/VCR combos were down 42.1 percent to 2.82 million and projection TVs were off 59.5 percent to 275,700.
In video, VCR deck shipments for 2003 were down 52.6 percent to 6.42 million, and with TV/VCR combos included, total VCR sales dropped 49.8 percent to 9.24 million.
DVD player sales rose 28.7 percent for the year to just under 22 million, and for the first time passed analog direct-view color as the video arena’s biggest unit volume seller. With TV/DVD combinations added, total DVD sales were up 33.6 percent to 23.5 million.
