As 4K manufacturers try to continue to attract consumers with one of their latest products, which is the 4K TV, some financial experts are wondering if sales are climbing steadily enough for the company. Although these are still early days, consumers are somewhat prone to buying almost any new products they see appear on the market, including the ones 4K has to offer.
4K TV retail sales are taking off and the competition can do nothing to stop it. So far, more retailers are signing up with the manufacturer of the product in an effort to be a part of the big boom in growth almost everyone is seeing coming. In addition, as public interest increases, programmers, software providers and providers of pay-TV are gearing up to meet the demand that the product is generating from consumers.
Harmonic (HLIT, Financial), CES, Sony (SNE, Financial) and many other key companies are moving ahead with their plan to display 4K software or equipment to the hungry public first in the U.S. and then globally. The software and equipment include playout, video productions, video encodings, signal testing, content monitoring, content protection, and security. Still with all the interest shown in the marketing of 4K TV, the climb to reach the top will remain a crucial battle.
In April 2015, GfK, a research company reported that 4K sales climbed 1759%. In March while consumer sales in the UK slumped, 4K manufacturers continued to see massive sales happening in the company. Industry researchers are already touting that the company sales might reach a massive $52 billion by 2020 if the company continues to market its line of impressive products like PC monitors, cameras, laptops, TVs and their latest tablets.
In 2014, 4K boosted its marketing campaign by entering its products into several major global markets. This decision is showing fruit in 2015 and will continue into 2016 as well as beyond. The “Quarterly Worldwide FPD Shipment and Forecast Report” reported that the 4K marketing campaign has caused a whopping $9.2 billion sale to reach the company already since 2014 ended. Of this gross sale, $8 billion of it came from consumers who buy 4K TV alone. It is expected that by the end of 2015, this figure will move up to an impressive $18 billion.
As 4K continues to show strong financial performance, more TV brands are coming on board and pushing its products by promoting the brands as a “great way to enhance value.”
Panel makers, too, are getting in on the act. They have since helped to reduce the cost by increasing efficiency in 4K TV production level and thus boosting consumer interest in the product. Since the start of 2015, panel makers have set a goal to produce more than 40 million ultra HD TV panels belonging to the 4K family for shipment overseas. Experts are of the opinion that if panel makers have their way, then 4K TV carrying the new resolution will cause sales to increase by 17% globally.
For now, Samsung is leading the charge in the sales of 4K TV. Since most consumers prefer the much talked about curved screen TV that comes with owning a 4K TV, Samsung customers are making sure to stay in touch by owning one. Samsung sales are coming in fast, so much so that because of the company’s affiliation with 4K the first quarter sales for 2014 and first quarter 2015 have jumped by 350%. Samsung has seen this development and to take advantage of this spike in consumer preference they have managed to sell 2.8% of ultra HD 4K TVs in 2015’s first quarter. This move reveals an upward trend from 19.9% up by 8.9 percentage points. Since 2014 until 2015 fourth quarter, the total sales of 4K TV rose to about 5.75 million units that are already in the hands of consumers.
Some top analysts from MIPTV and other places are expecting to witness a significant growth in 4K TV by the end of 2015. From 2014 to January 2015, large quantities of TV sales took place around the world. So far, already the UK has sold 298,000 units, Germany 294,000 and France having sold 290,000. The European markets are doing well and the expectation is that sales will increase across that region from 600,000 to 700,000 units as more consumers living in those regions are showing strong interest in the product.
As 4K TV sales continue to climb higher, more retailers and TV brands will get involved and thus increase its market potential. While the going is good for 4K manufacturers, they should not take the market for granted but instead continue to try to establish new boundaries.
