TV analyst is doubtful.
One the world’s leading television market researchers and experts, IHS principal analyst Paul Gray claims that the television industry is unlikely to see a spike in sales this year in the lead up to the Olympics.
“In the past we used to see a lot of frenzied promotional activity in the lead up to the Olympics,” Gray told Appliance Retailer in an exclusive interview in Shenzen last month.
“We tended to say that it never really moved the needle much on annual sales because you saw a huge promotional period in the lead up to the Olympics and then an industry correction afterwards but overall there was much more promotional noise,” he said.
“The industry is on its knees in terms of profitability at the moment and based on our research there is very little money for promotion anywhere. The business has plateaued out, everybody who really wants a flat television has got one already and we are now in a replacement upgrade business.
“In our opinion, frankly there isn’t that sort of positive effect from huge promotional spending any more to really drive that so I think it there won’t be much of a sales spike in the lead up to the Olympics and that it will be pretty quiet,” Gray said.
In 2016, GfK predicts the global television market will to increase by four per cent to 86 million units in 2016, after increasing by six per cent to 82 million units last year. It is forecasting a further increase to 88 million units in 2017, an overall increase of a further three per cent. From 2014 to 2017, this represents an overall increase of 10 million additional units or almost 13 per cent.
This year, Ultra High Definition (UHD) televisions are expected to represent almost one in three television sales compared to one in five sets a year ago.