Your browser is out-of-date!

Update your browser to view this website correctly. Update my browser now

×

Strong December For Stereo TVs, While Jan. DTV Sales Also Solid

Stereo direct-view color TV marketers closed out a record 1999 with strong December sales to dealers and got 2000 off to good start, according to figures just issued by CEA that also show a good January performance for sales of digital TV products.

In December, sales of stereo color rose 19.3% to 1.21 million to set a new high for the month. That put the fourth-quarter sales total at 3.78 million, up 7.5% for a new record for any quarter. The previous all-time quarterly high was 3.69 million set in the last quarter of 1996. Sales for the year of 12.5 million were up 4.3%.

In December, stereo color sales represented 57.8% of the overall direct-view color market, a new record high for any month and well up from the 52.8% of December 1998. But that wasn’t enough to offset the market share slippage of other months during the year. For the quarter, stereo’s share slipped to 53.6% of the market from the year-earlier 55%, and for the year it dipped to 53.7% from 53.8%.

The figures indicate that sales of monaural direct-view color TVs dipped 2.9% in December to 882,500, but for the quarter they jumped 13.6% to 3.27 million and closed out the year up 10.5% to 6.13 million. The gains reflected a strong comeback in the demand for lower priced 13- and 19-inch models.

As for digital TV products, January sales of digital TVs, set-top converter boxes and related products totaled 21,008 units, up nearly sixfold from the 3,652 units sold in January last year. That brings the historic sales total to 155,410 units.

Featured

Close