Worldwide sales of flat panel TVs forecast to break US$ 100bn barrier this year

October 11, 2007 – Worldwide sales of flat panel LCD and plasma TVs will break the US$ 100bn barrier this year, according to the latest report from the Strategy Analytics Connected Home Devices service.

The report, entitled ‘Digital Home Entertainment Devices Quarterly Report’, projects that sales will reach 73.7mn units worldwide this year, generating retail revenues of US$ 104.9bn, an increase of 17% over last year.  High-definition (HD) was found to be one of the major growth drivers, with 71% of all flat panel TV sales now HD-ready.  Plasma TVs are predicted to have a 15.8% share by unit volume this year, down from 17.1% last year.  Ownership of flat panel TVs has now reached 41% of US households and 29% of European households.

“Flat panels have transformed the TV market over the last five years,” said Peter King, Director, Connected Home Devices for Strategy Analytics.  “But we expect that market revenues will see only two more years of growth.  New features such as 1080p and IP networking will help to add value but will fail to counteract further declines in average selling prices.”  David Mercer, VP of Digital Consumer Practice, added: “Manufacturer strategies need to recognise impending market saturation.  While investment will be needed to support increasing volume demand, it must also take into account the inevitability of rapidly falling unit prices.”

The report forecasts that annual sales of flat panel TVs will reach 180mn units by 2012, but revenues will peak in 2009 at US$ 130.4bn before starting to wane.  Total global revenues for digital home devices are predicted to reach US$ 249bn in 2007.