Flat-screen TVs selling well for Christmas

Resellers with a consumer angle may bolster seasonal sales

Sony flatscreen TVs are still selling well but were beaten by Philips and Panasonic in the quarter

Despite the gloomy economic conditions in Europe, the latest flat televisions are still selling well, according to recent statistics from Meko.

The analyst’s DisplayCast market intelligence service has reported that the ATV market for Q3 leaped 16 per cent quarter on quarter and 12 per cent year on year to about 16 million units across EMEA.

LCD units were up 20 per cent quarter on quarter by volume, to around 13 million TVs.

Goksen Sertler, TV market analyst at Meko, said sales were strong despite the poor economic conditions.

"However, growth in the TV market is not spread evenly among the top tier brands," she added.

Samsung, Philips and Toshiba saw 22 per cent, 41 per cent, and 63 per cent quarter-on-quarter increases in market share, respectively.

Top five EMEA brands by volume were Samsung, LG, Philips, Panasonic and Sony, in that order.

Western European LCD shipments accounted for 92 per cent of all TV shipments in
Q3, totalling 9.6 million units. The most popular screen size is still 32in, whicih accounts for 36 per cent of LCD shipments in Western Europe by volume.

"We have seen a fast move to 32in 1080p LCD TVs in the West from Q1 to Q2.
Because of this, many top tier TV brands were expecting 32in 1080p to
replace the shipments of 720p during Q3. However, that has not happened," Sert ler said.

EMEA TV market value was up 16 per cent to $11.5bn in the quarter. Value growth was driven by higher numbers of larger sets and increasing popularity of 'Full HD'.

However, market value was down nine per cent on last year.

"Eastern European, and Middle East and Africa regions showed a 20 per cent quarter on quarter increase, higher than in the Western European region," Sertler added.