Leading supplier sees big opportunity.

As one of the major sponsors of the Olympic Games in Rio, Panasonic believes there is a big opportunity for retailers to sell more than just a larger television to consumers before August.

“We have had enough Olympics now to see the trends,”  Panasonic Australia director – consumer group, Richard Tassone said .

“Certain products have an ideal time period available to them to promote their features and for us this year that product range includes our range of recorders.

Panasonic Viera

“It’s going to be a time-shift Olympics and this means that our range of hard disc recorders and Blu-ray recorders will be pretty exciting for us and for our retailers,” he said.

While events such as the popular swimming finals are expected to suit Australian broadcasting times as they will be held at midnight local time in Rio (1.00pm in Australia) to please US broadcasters who want to show it during prime time in their market, the vast majority of events are expected to be held during the late evening or early morning in Australia. Rio is 13 hours behind of Australia, so an event commencing at 10.00am in Rio will be broadcast live at 11.00pm in Australia, and an event held at 8.00pm in Rio will be broadcast at 9.00am in Australia.

“How else are you going to watch your favourite events if they are not going to be broadcast in Australia during prime time? In the lead-up to the Olympics, as consumers come into the marketplace to upgrade their equipment, we will be directing them through our marketing and point of sale to let them know that they will have an option to record the Olympics.

“With our one terabyte (1TB) recorders, there is over 680 hours of recording available so you can set it for a few days to continuously record and then you can go back and watch the best moments in your own time,” he said.

To emphasise its commitment to the category, Panasonic Australia revealed a new range of Blu-ray recorders which will be available to retailers from this month. There are four new models in the range including the 760GN Blu-ray Disc Recorder with 1 terabyte hard disc with twin HD tuners (RRP $749), the 460GN Blu-ray Disc Recorder with 500GB hard disc and twin HD tuners (RRP $549), the 560GN Blu-ray Disc Player with 500GB hard disc recorder and twin HD tuners (RRP $599), the 260GN hard disc recorder with 1 terabyte hard disc drive and twin HD tuners (RRP $549).

“To support our recorders, we will also have our new range of Viera TVs out by the end of May which will provide retailers with the month of June to get settled ahead of the Olympic rush which we expect will take place in July after the end of the financial year,” Tassone said.

“I’m sure the retailers will be ready and we will be ready as well to ensure that there is a conversation occurring with consumers right through to the beginning of the Olympics when we expect to see a kick in sales. Immediately after the Olympics there is the footy finals and then there is Christmas so we believe it is a good year to be in the AV space.”