Communications and Technology Industry Research

When the 2008 Christmas season has ended in the United States, 33.1 million LCD TVs will have been sold to US consumers, according to recent research by MultiMedia Intelligence.

 

But it’s a double-edged sword: While the number of LCD TVs sold moving into 2009 will rise, a steep decline in Average Selling Prices will sap 2009 overall revenue growth.

 

Further, MMI officials think, market weakness will impact multiple income segments, including households with income below $35,000 as well as households with income between $150,000 and $250,000.

 

Last month industry observer Mark Hachman reported that a pair of reports from display analyst DisplaySearch reveal that Samsung (News - Alert) was the top LCD TV maker worldwide for the third quarter, while a separate note concludes that 120-Hz technology is making inroads into high-end sets.

 

In total, over 53 million sets were sold worldwide during the third quarter of 2008, up 11 percent sequentially and 6 percent year over year, DisplaySearch found. The analyst firm “did not comment on pricing trends,” Hachman wrote, “but said that LCD TV market share grew in every region except North America, where the market is flat with about an 80 percent penetration.”

 

“As LCD TV ownership saturates in higher-income households, growth depends on lower-income families,” observes Rick Sizemore, chief strategy officer for MultiMedia Intelligence. “However, this puts the U.S. LCD TV market at considerable risk as economic weakness undermines spending power among lower and middle income households.”

 

The research also found that LCD TV revenue from households with income between $150,000 and $250,000 will declines by over 9 percent in 2009 compared to 2008.

 

In 2007, U.S. head of households aged 70 years old and older spent US$2.1 billion on US LCD TVs. And in 2012, in households where the U.S. LCD TV purchaser makes between $50,000- $74,999, the total revenue from these household is forecasted to be $7.3 billion.