SAN DIEGO — The annual spring TV refresh has been arriving later and later over the past couple of years. In 2013, double-digit retail product debuts were seen as early as the first week of March. Last year, doubledigit retail product debuts were not seen until the third week of March. And this year, in the fifth and final week of March, we finally saw significant increases in the number of new TV retail product debuts appearing on the shelves.
Changes are also happening with the types of TVs available. Looking at data in the week prior to the annual refresh each year shows us that smart TVs make up more than 60 percent of retail placements at this point in 2015. UHD TVs have captured nearly 20 percent of the shelf, a number that is likely to increase as this year’s newest models arrive. Finally, prices for each segment have dropped by 21 percent year over year for 1080p TVs and 39 percent for UHD TVs. These numbers apply to a retail shelf that is primarily made up of outgoing 2014 models, which means that we can expect even more smart TVs, more UHD TVs and lower average prices (when compared with debut prices from last year) when the new products hit the shelf over the coming weeks.
