China FPD TV market on track to surpass 50 million by 2012

SANTA CLARA, USA: Driven by rapid urbanization, GDP growth rates are rising by 10 percent. In connection, an expected wave of investments in LCD panel manufacturing, the market for flat panel TVs (including LCD and plasma), in China is also expected to enjoy strong growth, according to a new DisplaySearch report, China's TV Market.

The report forecasts that flat panel TV unit shipments in China will increase from 31 million in 2009 to 59 million in 2014, a CAGR of 14 percent. The flat panel share in China’s TV market will grow from 72 percent in 2009 to around 100 percent in 2014, when CRTs will effectively disappear.

The China's TV Market Report analyzes the TV market in China by regional market segments (Figure 1), screen sizes, technology, and specific TV features. The report also covers the status of TV manufacturing and TV exports including competition between TV brands (both domestic and foreign), panel maker investments, analysis of TV sales channels, FPD TV costs and the current status of and future trends for digital TV.

Of particular interest is whether the government subsidy packages for rural areas and economic growth will bring new opportunities for TV brands to tap into the market in rural areas and increase TV penetration in urban areas.

Fig. 1: China LCD TV Forecast by RegionNote: Tier-1 city: markets with population greater than 1 million; Tier-2 city: markets with population less than 1 million. Source: China’s TV Market Report, DisplaySearch, USA.

In China, color TV shipments grew rapidly in the mid-1990s, and because the average lifetime of a color TV is eight to ten years, there is an opportunity for industry to replace these old TVs.

In fact, there are nearly 450 million traditional CRT TVs that could be replaced by FPD TVs in the next five to ten years. Together with demand from first-time buyers, LCD TV shipments in China will exceed those in North America by 2011.

Fig. 2: China to Become the Largest LCD TV Market by 2012Source: China’s TV Market Report, DisplaySearch, USA.