Global TV market emerges from challenging chapter as future growth anticipated
TV shipments and the sector’s worldwide market value both diminished in 2023, according to the latest outlook report from Futuresource Consulting. Yet the specialist research firm expects the market to stabilise this year and achieve volume growth from 2025 onwards.
“It’s a similar story across many sectors,” says James Manning Smith, Senior Market Analyst, Futuresource Consulting. “Difficult economic conditions have applied the brakes to consumer spending, and disposable income remains stretched following rapid inflation and high interest rates.
“For some TV manufacturers, the increasing cost of raw materials and intense pricing competition in the market has affected their ability to offer promotions and invest in marketing campaigns. This led to a softening of demand during the holiday season. What’s more, the pandemic-induced demand surge of a few years ago also negatively impacted replacement sales during 2023. All these factors came together to create a perfect storm, but thankfully we are now beginning to see clearer skies and calmer waters ahead.”
Competition dominates OS landscape
TV manufacturers are on the search for ways to increase revenue and protect their bottom line, and the Smart TV Operating System has become a focal point for this. “As TV hardware margins diminish, the OS provides a welcome boost for vendors, providing the opportunity to drive advertising and content revenues,” says Manning Smith.
While the new profit opportunities are welcomed, the rush to grab a share of these revenue streams has competition hotting up between OS providers. Both new and existing OS providers are fighting to forge new partnerships, creating a challenging environment to gain traction, leading to a fragmented landscape.
Some market positivity from 2023
Despite widespread market contraction, on both regional and technological fronts, 2023 did present some bright spots. India experienced positive market volume growth, achieving 3.5% year-on-year expansion, following demand for low-end LCD TVs, while the Middle East and Africa followed a similar trend, with demand for TV’s increasing by 4.5% in the region. With an overall positive global economic outlook expected for 2024, TV demand is forecast to grow in the emerging world.
4K UHD TV shipments grew by 0.4% year-on-year. Futuresource expects this category to take an expanding share of the total TV market across the forecast period, as it becomes an increasingly standardised feature in lower-cost TVs.
8K TVs also experienced a growth spurt, achieving a 35% year-on-year increase, but remain a niche segment in the market, ending 2023 with only 1.2 million shipments.
Futuresource Consulting’s Global TV Market Outlook report explores developments in the market during 2023, and provides forecasts out to 2028, profiling key regions and countries. For more information on this report or to make a purchase, please contact James at james.manningsmith@futuresource-hq.com.
About the author
James is a member of the Education team and contributes to research and analysis in the K-12 PC Market. James joined Futuresource in 2016 after graduating from the University of Nottingham with a Masters’ Degree in International Business. In previous roles James led global research in the Mobile Technology, Wearables, Gaming and VR Sectors.