China leads growth in LCD TV shipments in Q1’13

USA: Global LCD TV shipments grew 4 percent Y/Y in Q1’13 to 44.8 million sets, led by strong growth in China, according to the NPD DisplaySearch Quarterly Advanced Global TV Shipment and Forecast Report.

The improved growth is largely the result of timing of the Chinese New Year; in 2013 the holiday fell in February, rather than in January, so TV shipments were skewed more into the first quarter, resulting in a strong 28 percent Y/Y increase in China.

“Excluding China, worldwide LCD TV growth was actually down almost 4 percent from to the previous year, demonstrating how important China has become to the global TV industry,” said Paul Gagnon, Director of Global TV Research for NPD DisplaySearch.

The growth of LCD TV shipments worldwide has not been strong enough to offset the decline in plasma and CRT TV shipments, particularly in emerging markets. Overall CRT TV shipments fell 57 percent in Q1’13.

While this decline in shipments has accelerated significantly during the last few quarters, LCD TV prices are still too high to be competitive with similar CRT TVs for Asia Pacific, Latin America, and other emerging regions. Plasma TV demand has declined as well, with all brands outside of China reporting decreased sales volume, as the category slowly winds down.

As Samsung continues to lead, TCL becomes first Chinese brand to reach top three
Samsung remained the top global flat-panel TV brand, on both a unit and revenue basis, and its global revenue share remained stable at about 28 percent. Samsung was the top-ranked manufacturer for both LCD and plasma TVs. LGE remained in the second-ranked position, but the company improved its revenue share to 16.6 percent of flat panel TVs, with revenue up 4 percent Y/Y.

TCL was the first Chinese TV brand to break into the top three on a revenue and unit basis, after entering the top five during Q4’12. This rise is the result both of the increased share that China has gained in the global market and of TCL’s strong share within China.

Although Sharp and Sony rounded out the top five brands on a revenue basis, all major Japanese brands lost market share compared to the previous year. Sony’s global flat-panel TV revenue share fell most sharply, from 9.1 percent a year ago, to 5.1 percent in Q1’13.