LCD totally dominating TV market, but 3D plasma much more competitive

By Patrick Avenell

SYDNEY, NSW: 3D TV sales have grown consistently month-on-month since the first panel was launched in Australian in March 2010. All told, over 100,000 3D panels have been sold, with only July 2010 registering a drop in sales compared to the previous month. Throughout this time, 3D LCD has been the dominant technology, but a closer look reveals an interesting trend.

Sales figures obtained by Current.com.au today show that from the launch of 3D TV technology in autumn 2010, the monthly sell through figures have grown steadily, with a 33 per cent jump in 3D TV sales during December 2010 (when Christmas and sales promotions were key purchase triggers).

Key findings from this data include:

-Ten 3D TVs were sold in March 2010, which is odd because none of the suppliers had released 3D TVs yet. This figure could include so-called 3D-ready TVs, which required additional hardware to become 3D TVs.
-Around 7,000 3D TVs were in the market by the time the State of Origin and the World Cup were broadcast in 3D.
-Just under 20,000 3D TVs had been sold by the time two AFL and NRL Grand Finals were broadcast.
-3D LCD has outsold 3D plasma in every month since the technology was released. However, the difference between these two technologies is not as pronounced as between all LCD and plasma sales. This indicates that consumers generally prefer LCD, but not as much when comparing 3D LCD to 3D plasma.

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Throughout all of 2010, 61,907 LCD 3D TVs were sold and 38,551 plasma 3D TVs were sold. This brings the total to 100,458.

Across the whole flat panel TV category, just under 2.4 million LCD units were sold, compared to around 650,000 plasma panels.

As a percentage, LCD accounts for 78.5 per cent of all TVs sold, but only 61 per cent of all 3D TVs sold. There are a number of contributing factors to this, such as price, availability and which technologies were the focus of marketing. On face value, however, it would seem that 3D plasma is considered a more competitive alternative to 3D LCD than their non-3D equivalents.

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