Global LCD TV shipments reached 146 million units in 2009, faster growth than 2008

AUSTIN, USA: At the end of 2008, the outlook for 2009 TV sales worldwide was radically scaled back after the global economy suffered a massive setback. The expected downturn in consumer demand seemed likely to make 2009 a bleak year for TV shipments. However, shipments far exceeded initial expectations as consumers snapped up discounted products.

According to the DisplaySearch Quarterly Advanced Global TV Shipment and Forecast Report, global TV shipments grew 2 percent overall to 211 million units, and flat panel TV technologies like LCD enjoyed better growth in 2009 on a unit basis than during 2008, rising 37 percent vs. 34 percent, respectively.

The final quarter of 2009 showed even stronger year-over-year (Y/Y) unit shipment growth, rising 17 percent Y/Y overall with LCD TVs climbing 50 percent Y/Y, the strongest growth in LCD TV units since Q4’07, although Q4’08 was very weak.

Strong flat panel TV shipment growth in emerging markets like China (more than 100 percent Y/Y) led the flat panel share of total annual TV shipments to pass 75 percent for the first time, with more than 90 percent of all TV revenues.

One of the key drivers of growth was the acceleration of average selling price erosion driven by cost reductions at the component level, but also by decreasing margins at the brand and retail level.

Coupled with greater consumer price sensitivity that resulted in much slower average screen size growth, the global volume-weighted ASP declined more than 8 percent worldwide and fell as much as 24 percent Y/Y for LCD TVs, the largest decline since DisplaySearch began tracking the TV marketplace.

“The better-than-expected 2009 results clearly demonstrate that consumers still have a strong desire to purchase flat panel TVs, but at the same time are willing to shift their buying behavior to match their budget in a recession-plagued year,” noted Paul Gagnon, Director of North America TV Market Research for DisplaySearch.

“We saw a lot more compromise on size and features in 2009, with a greater number of consumers perhaps opting to upgrade smaller secondary sets and postpone getting a larger living room set than we would have seen in a normal economy.”

For LCD TVs, this means that growth in sub-40” sets outpaced growth of big screens in mature developed markets like North America during 2009, despite the introduction of advanced new TV technologies to larger screen sizes, like LED-backlit LCD TVs and internet connected sets.

Table 1: Q4‘09 Worldwide TV Shipments by Technology (000s)Source: DisplaySearch Quarterly Advanced Global TV Shipment and Forecast Report

LED backlights account for 4 percent of LCD TV units shipped in Q4’09, but more than 11 percent of revenues
DisplaySearch is now tracking LCD TV shipments by backlight type, including a breakout of edge-lit and full-array types by screen size, resolution and frame rate.

LED backlights are not new in LCD TVs, but they have become significantly more affordable and offer many valuable attributes like lower power consumption, thinner and lighter cabinet designs, and better picture quality.

However, the premiums for LED-backlit LCD TVs had been prohibitively high until 2009, and are expected to narrow much further in 2010 with explosive growth expected. LED-backlit LCD TVs only accounted for 4 percent of global units in Q4’09, but they had a 11 percent share of 40” and larger, and a 24 percent share of shipments of 50” and larger. As the screen size (and price) climb, the LED premium is more acceptable.

Samsung leads global brands with record share in Q4’09
Samsung achieved their highest revenue share ever, reaching a record 23.6 percent of global TV revenues in Q4’09 (Table 2).

This high revenue share is the result of being the global leader in units as well as having a strong mix of larger screen sizes as well as leading positions in advanced technologies like LED backlit and high frame rate LCD TVs, all of which support higher average prices. Samsung has been #1 in both TV units and revenues worldwide every quarter for more than three years now, achieving a 22.6 percent share of 2009 full year TV revenues.

LGE was the #2 brand worldwide in TV shipment revenues and demonstrated the strongest annual growth among the top five brands, an indicator of the aggressive market share growth campaign the brand undertook in 2009. The result is that LGE improved its total 2009 TV revenue share by a full 2 percentage points to 13.2 percent, a larger increase than any other brand in 2009. LGE’s Q4’09 revenue share rose slightly, to 13 percent.

Sony was #3 in global TV revenues during Q4’09 at 11.5%, up sharply from 9.9 percent in Q4’09, as sales for Sony surged during the holidays, typically a strong quarter for the company. Sony had the largest Q/Q shipment growth among the top five in Q4’09. However, Sony’s full year 2009 total TV revenue share was down almost 2 percentage points from 2008, to 11.5 percent, and is at the lowest level since 2005 when it last led the overall TV market. Much of Sony’s share loss went to the two surging Korean brands that aggressively targeted growth in 2009.

Table 2: Q4‘09 Worldwide TV Brand Rankings by Revenue ShareSource: DisplaySearch Quarterly Advanced Global TV Shipment and Forecast Report.