LED-Backlight LCD TVs Get 22.5% Penetration in U.S. TV Market in Q4, 2010: IHS iSuppli

Taipei, April 14, 2011 (CENS)--In the fourth quarter of 2010, light-emitting diode (LED)-backlighting liquid crystal display (LCD)-TVs accounted for a little more than one-fifth of all U.S. TV sets purchased in the period, according to latest IHS iSuppli research.

Riddhi Patel, director for television systems and retail services at HIS, pointed out that LED-backlit LCD TVs made up 22.5% of TVs bought in the U.S. market in the fourth quarter last year, up almost 3 percentage points from 19.6% in the third quarter.

In comparison, he added, three-fifths of consumer purchases were for LCD TVs featuring the older technology of cold cathode fluorescent lamp (CCFL). LED models are brighter, more power efficient and have thinner profiles, but they are also much more expensive than their CCFL counterparts, which explains the market disparity between the two flat-panel LCD technologies, the director explained.

The increased share of LED TV models solidifies the steady gains the technology has made since the second quarter of 2009, when it first appeared. Plasma TV purchases remained flat despite aggressive end-market pricing, with sales growth hindered by the declining prices of LCD TVs in general as well as by consumer perceptions that plasma sports lower-grade specifications.

A decline in U.S. TV prices during the fourth quarter also resulted in various changes in purchasing behavior among Americans during the period, IHS iSuppli research indicated.

For instance, aggressive pricing and the easy availability of deals meant that 4% fewer consumers, down to 45%, spent less time researching the TV market before purchasing a set.

The price drop that resulted from a combination of holiday sales and inventory oversupply in the fourth quarter also opened up the TV market to a larger demographic of consumers, increasing technological awareness among them, IHS iSuppli said. For instance, the percentage of those who identified themselves as "following technology trends closely but only buying when the price is right" jumped 2.6 percentage points to 41.6%—suggesting that their resistance to buying decreased in the face of lower TV prices.

All buyers continued to think picture quality was the most important criterion in buying LCD TVs, followed by price and screen size. Brand name was less crucial, and the importance of a set being Internet enabled dropped in the fourth quarter in favor of TVs that might not have the feature but were on sale.

U.S.TV Market Share by Display Technolog (Percentage of Unit Sales)
Technology	Q4-09	Q1-10	Q2-10	Q3-10	Q4-10
Other	1.3%	1.1%	3.3%	1.6%	1.5%
Plasma	12.9%	12.4%	14.2%	13.5%	14.2%
LED LCD	6.1%	12.1%	17.9%	19.6%	22.5%
CCFL LCD	79.7%	74.4%	64.6%	65.3%	61.8%
Source: IHS iSuppli, April 2011