IHS: Chinese Brands Drive LCD TV Shipment Rebound

9 May, 2016 By: Erik Gruenwedel

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Spurred by Chinese brands, March global shipments of liquid crystal display (LCD) televisions increased 4.8% to 16.2 million units — following three months of declines, according to new data from IHS.

Indeed, every Chinese brand experienced positive growth, offsetting drops in shipments in February. Shipments, which fell 63.5% month over month in February, rebounded nearly 89% in March, from 2.4 million to 4.5 million units. Chinese brands accounted for 28% of all LCD TV shipments — an increase of 11 percentage points from the previous month.

“Chinese brands, in particular, have started to play a more critical role in the global TV market over the last year,” Ken Park, principal analyst of TVs with IHS Technology, said in a statement.

Park said Chinese brands began to restock retail inventory in March for upcoming promotional events on the Web and May Labor Day holiday sales.

“E-commerce-focused brands like LeEco, Xiaomi and newcomer FunTV have also been aggressive in increasing production and shipments in the TV market this year, leveraging their online content portals to attract new customers,” he said.

Meanwhile, South Korean heavyweights Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics saw contraction in March with unit shipments dropping 7.8%.

Park said the 50-inch and larger share of monthly LCD TV shipments increased by more than 6 percentage points in March to 22.4%, compared to a year earlier. During the same period, the 4K TV share grew to a record 20.9% of unit shipments.

“Both of these factors are driving worldwide growth as consumers upgrade from older TVs,” he said.
 

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