North America TV Shipments Surge 28% Y/Y in Q2'08

Samsung Achieves Record Share

AUSTIN, Texas — Despite a weaker US economy and rising energy prices that directly impact consumers budgets, North American TV shipments climbed a remarkably strong 26% Q/Q and 28% Y/Y in Q2’08 to more than 9.3M units, according to preliminary results from DisplaySearch’s Quarterly Global TV Shipment and Forecast Report. This Y/Y growth is the strongest since DisplaySearch began tracking TV shipments in 2004. LCD and Plasma TV technologies both posted strong sequential quarterly gains, rising 30% and 35%, respectively. PDP growth in particular was influenced by strong initial shipments of Vizio’s 32″ HD PDPs; LCD growth was also very strong at 32″, rising 35% Q/Q.

Some other highlights from Q2’08 include:

• LCD TV shipments rose a stronger than expected 52% Y/Y in Q2 to nearly 7.5M units, driving the total TV growth to such strong levels. Much of the growth came from small- to mid-range screen sizes, such as 19″, 22″ and 32″ where price points are lower and consumers don’t have to stretch budgets as much to afford a new digital flat panel TV.
• PDP shipment growth surged in Q2 by 35% Q/Q and 34% Y/Y as 32″ HD shipments were initiated by Vizio into the US market, quickly rising to almost 13% of all PDP shipments for the quarter. 42″ PDP shipments also rose in Q2, climbing 86% Q/Q, but 50″ PDP shipments were flat Q/Q as LCD proved a tough competitor at 50-54″.
• Overall LCD TV gained share during the quarter, rising from 77.5% to 79.8% unit share, a new high. LCD TV also gained against PDP in the 50-54″ size category, rising to a new high of 46.1% with most 52″ LCD TVs selling at a substantial premium to comparable PDP models. LCD did drop from 97.7% to 93.6% of shipments at 32″ though, as 32″ HD PDP entered the size category during the quarter.
• Samsung (Seoul:005930) was the leading brand with total TV shipment share surging to a record 19.1% of all TV unit shipments in North America during the quarter. Samsung continued to have the leading LCD TV unit share in Q2, climbing from 13.5% to 18.3% as their shipments rose 76% Q/Q. Additionally, Samsung overtook Sony for the top LCD TV unit share of the 40″+ category.
• Sony (Tokyo:6758)(NYSE:SNE) remained #2 in LCD TV, although their share dropped from 13.4% to 11.7%. Despite gaining share in the 32″ category, they lost share in the 40″+ space to Samsung. Sony also rose from #3 to #2 in total TV shipments, although unit share fell from 10.6% to 9.4%.
• Panasonic (Tokyo:6752)(NYSE:MC) was still the North America market leader in PDP TV at 31.2%, down from 35% in Q1’08 as both Samsung and Vizio posted strong share gains. Panasonic led 50″ shipments by a large margin, while barely edging out Samsung for #2 at 42″. Q2’08 also marked the first full quarter of 46″ 1080p PDP shipments for Panasonic and easily led all other brands in 1080p PDP shipments.
• Vizio moved up to #2 in PDP, overtaking Samsung, with their share more than doubling to 25.1% on the previously mentioned strong 32″ HD PDP shipments. In LCD TV, Vizio fell from #3 to #5 at 7.5% unit share, as intense price competition from top brands at a wide range of retail outlets which pushed them from #2 to #3 in total TV unit share.

More extensive Q2’08 results can be seen in the following tables:

Table 1: Preliminary Q1’08 – Q2’08 NA Flat Panel TV Unit Share and Growth

                             Q1'08        Q2'08      Q/Q      Y/Y
Rank    Brand           Unit Share   Unit Share   Growth   Growth
----    -----           ----------   ----------   ------   ------ 
1       Samsung              14.0%        18.9%      75%     147%
2       Sony Corp            11.7%        10.4%      15%     185%
3       Vizio                12.7%         9.5%      -3%      18%
4       LG Electronics        8.5%         8.2%      23%      80%
5       Sharp Corp            8.1%         6.9%       9%      28%
        Other                45.0%        46.1%      32%      22%
 
        Total               100.0%       100.0%      29%      49%

Table 2: Preliminary Q1’08 – Q2’08 NA LCD TV Unit Share and Growth

                             Q1'08        Q2'08      Q/Q      Y/Y
Rank    Brand           Unit Share   Unit Share   Growth   Growth
----    -----           ----------   ----------   ------   ------ 
1       Samsung              13.5%        18.3%      76%     155%
2       Sony Corp            13.4%        11.7%      15%     185%
3       LG Electronics        8.1%         7.8%      27%      91% 
4       Sharp Corp            9.3%         7.8%       9%      28%
5       Vizio                13.2%         7.5%     -25%      -7%
        Other                42.6%        46.9%      38%      29%
 
        Total               100.0%       100.0%      28%      52%

Table 3: Preliminary Q1’08 – Q2’08 NA Plasma TV Unit Share and Growth

                             Q1'08        Q2'08      Q/Q      Y/Y
Rank    Brand           Unit Share   Unit Share   Growth   Growth
----    -----           ----------   ----------   ------   ------ 
1       Panasonic            35.0%        31.2%      20%      28%
2       Vizio                10.5%        25.1%     223%     225%
3       Samsung              19.8%        24.2%      65%     107%
4       LG Electronics       13.6%        10.7%       6%      35%
5       Sanyo                 2.3%         3.2%      88%      48%
        Other                18.8%         5.6%     -60%     -73%
 
        Total               100.0%       100.0%      35%      34%

DisplaySearch’s TV market intelligence, including panel and TV shipments, TV shipments by region by brand by size for nearly 60 brands, rolling 16-quarter forecasts, TV cost/price forecasts and design wins can be found in its Quarterly Global TV Shipment and Forecast Report. For more information on this report, please contact Carl Holec at (512) 687-1505 or Carl_Holec@displaysearch.com.