SANTA CLARA, CA – Worldwide TV shipments fell almost 8% year-over-year in the first quarter of 2012, the steepest rate of decline since the second quarter of 2009, says NPD DisplaySearch.

Total TV shipments for the quarter were 51 million units. The biggest contributor to this decline was a slowdown in shipments of LCD TVs, which fell year-over-year for the first time in the history of the category, declining just over 3%, to 43 million units, the research firm says.

“Soft demand and cautious expectations about the upcoming year in many parts of the TV supply chain have led to a slowdown in shipments,” noted Paul Gagnon, NPD DisplaySearch director of North America TV research. “Key component prices, such as LCD panels, are not expected to decline much in 2012, and many brands are concentrating on improving their bottom line. Both of these trends will contribute to slowing unit volume among a price conscious consumer market.”

LCD TV shipment share fell slightly sequentially, due to a seasonal shift to emerging markets where CRT demand is higher, but is up four percentage points from a year ago, to 84.2%. LCD TV is capturing market share at 40" and larger screen sizes because of a sharp decline in plasma TV demand. The average LCD TV screen size increased 5% year-over-year in the first quarter, passing 35" for the first time, with gains in both emerging and developed markets.

The share of LCD TVs with LED backlights also rose sharply, from 51% in the fourth quarter of 2011 to almost 56% in the first quarter of 2012, 20 percentage points higher than a year ago because more affordable direct-type LED-backlit sets began shipping in the first quarter.

Plasma TV unit shipments continued to decline, falling 18% year-over-year after an 8% decline in the previous quarter. The popularity of plasma TV among consumers is waning, and a large majority of the recent shipment volume remains centered on low-priced 2D HD models, indicating consumers are buying on price when shopping for plasma, says NPD.

Despite the weak results on a unit basis, demand for larger sizes continues to grow. The market share for 40" and larger TVs increased from just under 31% a year ago to more than 37% in the first quarter, with total unit shipments for 40"+ rising 12% year-over-year. Larger sizes have become more affordable with 40-44" LCD TV average prices below $600 and new 50" LCD TVs selling for less than $1000, joining 50"-class plasma TVs that have been selling for less than $700 for several quarters now, the firm says.

China remains the #1 region for TV shipments at 20% of all units shipped during the quarter, down very slightly from the previous quarter. However, growth slowed significantly during the first quarter, with unit shipments falling 4% year-over-year after growing by double digits the previous three quarters. Flat panel TVs are starting to saturate China’s higher income urban markets, but prices are still too high to kick off a wave of upgrades in rural markets. Asia Pacific (including India, Korea, and Australia) was the #2 region for TV shipments, followed by North America and Western Europe.

3D shipment share continues to grow, albeit more slowly in recent quarters, rising to just over 14% of total TV shipments and 16% of flat panel TV shipments. Demand for 3D in emerging regions is actually higher than in developed regions, with 16% of flat panel TV units shipped to emerging markets in the first quarter, compared to 15% among developed regions.

Samsung’s global flat panel TV revenue share remained around 26%, near record levels, and was the only one of the top five flat panel TV brands on a revenue basis to show year-over-year growth during the first quarter. Samsung also was the top brand in the key segments of LCD TV, 40"+, LED-backlit LCD, and 3D TV.
LGE was the #2 brand and showed a significant improvement in market share, rising more than a percentage point to 14.6% revenue share. Sony rounded out the top flat panel TVs on a revenue basis, but posted a large drop in year-over-year revenues, along with fellow Japanese brand Panasonic.

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