Global TV Shipments Drop 8 Percent in Q2, in Biggest Quarterly Decline in Six Years

Second-quarter demand headwinds in key regions led to an 8 percent year-over-year drop in global TV shipments, for the biggest drop since Q2 2009 when worldwide demand slumped during the global recession, said IHS Thursday. IHS recorded shipments of 48 million units for the quarter. It attributed most of the decline to slowing growth in sales of LCD TVs, which now account for 99 percent of all TVs shipped. But LCD TVs haven't made up for the lost volume of CRT and plasma TVs, which have largely left the marketplace, said the researcher. Last year was a “robust year for growth,” said analyst Paul Gagnon, with total TV shipments rising 3 percent worldwide and 6 percent in developed regions. TV demand this year has been slowed by economic factors, “particularly the rise in currency prices against the U.S. dollar, which has caused retail prices to increase in emerging markets,” he said. North American demand turned positive in Q2, but the downturn in shipments was felt in Western Europe and Japan among mature markets, he said. The decline was most pronounced in emerging regions: Latin America, Asia Pacific, Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa. China saw growth in the first half of 2015, but the momentum is slowing, said Gagnon. A government subsidy program in Mexico that added more than 2 million units in the first half hasn’t been enough to counter the decline in shipments, and there's a “significant amount of weakness out of Brazil,” he said. Asia-Pacific shipments fell more than 9 percent, he said. “Many global brands are shifting to a weaker outlook for the balance of the year, as a result of the broad decline in demand worldwide,” Gagnon said. 4K TV was a bright spot in the global TV market, as unit shipments grew 197 percent year over year in Q2 to reach 6.2 million units, said IHS. The 4K TV growth “is the direct result of increased price erosion and more affordable tiers of 4K models becoming available,” said Gagnon. The top five global TV makers for the quarter were Samsung (29 percent), LG (14 percent), Sony (7 percent), Hisense (6 percent) and TCL (5 percent).