Positive Forecast for European Television Market

The European television market is expected to expand 28 per cent by 2012, according to findings from DisplaySearch, an international market research company based in Austin, Texas. The growth will be driven by the Eastern European market, including Russia and Turkey, which is forecast to increase 31 per cent to 15.4 million units in 2012. The total television market is projected to grow 24 per cent between 2007 and 2012, with shipments rising from 42.9 to 53.1 million units.

Analysis shows that the rate of uptake of flat panel televisions is as rapid in Eastern Europe now as it was in Western Europe and Japan in 2005 and 2006. The company reports that there is a rapid transition under way to liquid crystal display (LCD) and plasma technologies and that the market has accelerated the adoption of larger screens, particularly the 32-in. size, which now are available in the mass-market price range.

Shipments of cathode-ray tube (CRT) televisions are falling dramatically, and it is projected that the sets effectively will be out of the market picture after 2011. In the third quarter of 2007, shipments of flat and CRT technologies were at about the same volume. By the end of 2008, however, more than 75 per cent of the television market is expected to consist of LCD or plasma technologies. The average size of the sets is expected to be slightly smaller in Eastern Europe.

In Western Europe, shipments of 100-Hz televisions are projected to increase from 1.5 million units in 2007 to 11.9 million in 2012. Shipments of organic LED televisions are expected to be at 1.01 million units in 2012.

DisplaySearch’s television market intelligence can be found in its “Quarterly Global TV Shipment and Forecast Report,” available by subscription.