Sales of 32-Inch TVs Up 20% Through 9 Months, Were 'Flat’ in 2019, Says NPD

Retail TV sell-through in the “32-inch size class” of sets was up 20% through the first nine months of 2020 “after being flat in 2019 vs 2018,” emailed NPD Vice-President-Industry Analysis Stephen Baker Wednesday. “The top 5 brands (in alphabetical order) are Hisense, Philips, Samsung, TCL and Vizio.” They collectively had only 58% of unit volume through the first three quarters because “this category has a very high percentage of factory brands and private label products,” said Baker. October TV imports with 30- to 35-inch screens had the highest growth among the smaller-screen categories, rising 106.7% from a year earlier to 1.05 million units (see 2012130001), 26.6% of them from Vietnam. Many in the CTA rank and file fear President Donald Trump may try rushing through tariffs on Vietnamese goods before Jan. 20 as a Trade Act Section 301 remedy for the Vietnam government’s alleged currency manipulation (see 2012160022).