Parks: Pricing, Limited Content Stymie Wider 4KTV Adoption

3 Dec, 2015 By: Erik Gruenwedel

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With the fourth quarter and holidays integral to television sales, new from Parks Associates says 42% of domestic broadband households are unfamiliar with 4K technology, and thus unwilling to pay premium prices for technology offering scant content selection.

4K Ultra High-Definition technology is said to offer four-times the picture resolution of 1080p HD quality.

“More consumers value other attributes, including smart TV capability, built-in Wi-Fi and high-resolution audio over 4K picture quality,” Barbara Kraus, director of research at Parks, said in a statement.

She said 56% of U.S. broadband households planning to buy a flat panel in the next 12 months consider smart capabilities to be important, versus 39% who value 4K picture quality.

Home entertainment studios plan to release 4K Blu-ray titles next year, with Lionsgate re-mastering movies in 4K for digital and broadcast. Netflix and Amazon Prime Instant Video currently stream limited content in 4K — the latter at no additional charge.

“Content availability remains a key inhibitor to 4K adoption,” Kraus said.

Meanwhile, more Samsung 4KTVs have been sold than any other brand. Samsung accounted for 28% of 4KTV purchases made within the last 12 months to U.S. broadband households, according to Parks. Other top-selling 4KTV manufactures include LG, Sony and Vizio.

The Dallas-based research firm reported that 19% of U.S. broadband households intend to purchase a flat-panel TV set by the end of the year, with about 40% of those households looking for 4K, which is about 7.5% of U.S. broadband households.

“We expect to see lower-cost 4KTV technologies presented at the 2016 [Consumer Electronics Show], along with 4K Blu-ray players and media, as well as OLED and high dynamic range, to drive new growth in this market,” Kraus said.

 

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