TV shipments in the U.S. will experience the second consecutive year of lackluster sales, according to an IHS U.S. Television Market Tracker Report, but regain momentum next year as liquid crystal display (LCD) TV regains some lost ground.
U.S. TV shipments this year will drop to 36.6 million units, a 2.7 percent decline from 37.6 million in 2012. Despite the current slump, the industry is poised to see expansion return next year as shipments tick up to 37.8 million units, marking the beginning of at least a four-year run of modest but steady growth, according to IHS.
“U.S. television demand is being hit by the double whammy of the plunge in both the plasma and LCD TV segments,” said Veronica Thayer, analyst for consumer electronics & technology at IHS. “After peaking in 2010, plasma sales now are on a terminal decline. Meanwhile, the mature U.S. LCD TV market contracted in 2012 as most consumers already own one or more sets.”
Plasma TV shipments last year decreased by 24 percent to 3.6 million units, and LCD TV shipments fell 3 percent to 33.8 million units. But while plasma shipments will continue to be down this year as part of an irreversible trend toward extinction, LCD TV shipments will be up 3 percent, reversing the losses of last year. LCD TV shipments will grow another 6 percent next year, pulling the overall U.S. TV space out of its slump.
The TV market will also begin to see the long-awaited impact of organic light-emitting diode (OLED) televisions. South Korea’s LG Electronics and Samsung Electronics will lob the first volleys in the first half of 2013 by each launching 55-inch models.Only 56,000 OLED TVs will ship cumulatively in 2013 and 2014, forecasts IHS, with sets commanding extremely high retail pricing because of a lack of large-scale manufacturing. But shipment numbers will grow quickly from 2014 onward, jumping to 370,000 by 2015, and then surging to 1.9 million units by 2017. Revenue from OLED TVs could reach as much as 21 percent of the total TV market revenue in 2017.
